Alteration of the α5 GABA receptor and 5HTT lead to cognitive deficits associated with major depressive-like behaviors in a 14-day combined stress rat model.

Introduction: Current models used to study the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) are laborious and time consuming. This study examined the effect of a 14-day combined stress model (CS; corticosterone injection and restraint stress) in male Sprague-Dawley rats and also compare the effect of CS versus 28-day corticosterone treatment on depressive-like behaviour and cognitive deficits.

Materiel And Methods: Depressive-like behaviours and cognitive deficits were assessed in the forced swim test (FST), sucrose preference (SPT), Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition (NORT) tests.