Biomaterial Database

Does the behavioral "despair" test measure "despair"? 1986

F Borsini, and G Volterra, and A Meli

The behavioral "despair" test is widely used to study antidepressants, mainly on the theoretical assumption that the test animal becomes desperate. In view of the above, we compared behavior of animals subjected to various experimental conditions (4, 15, 30 cm of water), in order to assess whether or not "despair" was the cause of immobility. Our results indicate that the animal's behavior in response to exposure to a dangerous situation, such as that represented by 15 or 30 cm water, depends upon previous knowledge of the environment rather than "despair." We concluded that this test is far from reproducing behavioral changes which characterize depressive illness in humans.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007101	Immersion	The placing of a body or a part thereof into a liquid.	Submersion,Immersions,Submersions
D007103	Immobilization	The restriction of the MOVEMENT of whole or part of the body by physical means (RESTRAINT, PHYSICAL) or chemically by ANALGESIA, or the use of TRANQUILIZING AGENTS or NEUROMUSCULAR NONDEPOLARIZING AGENTS. It includes experimental protocols used to evaluate the physiologic effects of immobility.	Hypokinesia, Experimental,Experimental Hypokinesia,Experimental Hypokinesias,Hypokinesias, Experimental
D008297	Male		Males
D008960	Models, Psychological	Theoretical representations that simulate psychological processes and/or social processes. These include the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment.	Model, Mental,Model, Psychological,Models, Mental,Models, Psychologic,Psychological Models,Mental Model,Mental Models,Model, Psychologic,Psychologic Model,Psychologic Models,Psychological Model
D006380	Helplessness, Learned	Learned expectation that one's responses are independent of reward and, hence, do not predict or control the occurrence of rewards. Learned helplessness derives from a history, experimentally induced or naturally occurring, of having received punishment/aversive stimulation regardless of responses made. Such circumstances result in an impaired ability to learn. Used for human or animal populations. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994)	Learned Helplessness
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001522	Behavior, Animal	The observable response an animal makes to any situation.	Autotomy Animal,Animal Behavior,Animal Behaviors
D051381	Rats	The common name for the genus Rattus.	Rattus,Rats, Laboratory,Rats, Norway,Rattus norvegicus,Laboratory Rat,Laboratory Rats,Norway Rat,Norway Rats,Rat,Rat, Laboratory,Rat, Norway,norvegicus, Rattus