Life sciences
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Comparative Study
Decreases in nestlet shredding of mice by serotonin uptake inhibitors: comparison with marble burying.
Methods for detection of anxiolytic-like behavioral effects of serotonin uptake inhibitors are limited. The present study introduces a new quantitative method that permits dose-effect analysis of these compounds. Male NIH Swiss mice were given 60-min access to a piece of cotton gauze and the amount of material not torn into nesting material was weighed. ⋯ Both nestlet shredding and marble burying behaviors were generally consistent across five consecutive experimental sessions and fluoxetine did not produce any systematic trends over repeated testing. The methods should have utility in defining pharmacological effects of these compounds in vivo. Moreover, these data may be useful in the context of other behavioral effects when assessing the relevance of a compound for its potential therapeutic potential as an anxiolytic (nestlet shredding) or as an anti-obsessive-compulsive disorder agent (marble burying).