Evaluation of the acute effects of amitriptyline and fluoxetine on anxiety using grooming analysis algorithm in rats.

The tricyclic amitriptyline and the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine have distinct actions in animal models of anxiety, though both antidepressants are used against anxiety disorders. Grooming behavioural sequencing, rather than its general "activity" measures, has been suggested to measure effectively the pharmacologically induced anxiolytic and anxiogenic-like effects in rats and mice. In the present study, the acute effects of amitriptyline and fluoxetine on anxiety were re-evaluated by using an analysis algorithm in novelty-induced grooming activity in rats.