Computational Analysis of Multidimensional Behavioral Alterations After Chronic Social Defeat Stress

The study of depression in humans depends on animal models that attempt to mimic specific features of the human syndrome. Most studies focus on one or a few behavioral domains, with time and practical considerations prohibiting a comprehensive evaluation. Although machine learning has enabled unbias...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological psychiatry (1969) 2021-05, Vol.89 (9), p.920-928
Main Authors: Lorsch, Zachary S., Ambesi-Impiombato, Alberto, Zenowich, Rebecca, Morganstern, Irene, Leahy, Emer, Bansal, Mukesh, Nestler, Eric J., Hanania, Taleen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antidepressants
Behavior
Behavior, Animal
Bioinformatics
Chronic social defeat stress
Depression
Disease Models, Animal
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Social Behavior
Social Defeat
Stress, Psychological
Translational models
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The study of depression in humans depends on animal models that attempt to mimic specific features of the human syndrome. Most studies focus on one or a few behavioral domains, with time and practical considerations prohibiting a comprehensive evaluation. Although machine learning has enabled unbiased analysis of behavior in animals, this has not yet been applied to animal models of psychiatric disease. We performed chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) in mice and evaluated behavior with PsychoGenics’ SmartCube, a high-throughput unbiased automated phenotyping platform that collects >2000 behavioral features based on machine learning. We evaluated group differences at several times post-CSDS and after administration of the antidepressant medication imipramine. SmartCube analysis after CSDS successfully separated control and defeated-susceptible mice, and defeated-resilient mice more resembled control mice. We observed a potentiation of CSDS effects over time. Treatment of susceptible mice with imipramine induced a 40.2% recovery of the defeated-susceptible phenotype as assessed by SmartCube. High-throughput analysis can simultaneously evaluate multiple behavioral alterations in an animal model for the study of depression, which provides a more unbiased and holistic approach to evaluating group differences after CSDS and perhaps can be applied to other mouse models of psychiatric disease.
ISSN:0006-3223
1873-2402
DOI:10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.10.010