Home › Cell Biology › Using Chronic Social Stress to Model Postpartum Depression in Lactating Rodents
Cell Biology JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Using Chronic Social Stress to Model Postpartum Depression in Lactating Rodents

DOI: 10.3791/50324-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Establish chronic resident-intruder social stress paradigm in lactating rodents
  • ✓ Assess postpartum depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors using behavioral metrics
  • ✓ Evaluate maternal behavior changes under chronic psychosocial stress conditions
  • ✓ Interpret stress-induced neurobiological markers relevant to postpartum mood disorders
Protocol

Biopharma Insights This article describes the use of chronic resident intruder social stress as an ethologically relevant paradigm to model postpartum depression and anxiety in lactating rodents.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~4–6 weeks (stress induction period varies; behavioral testing overlaid on lactation cycle)
Model organism
Rodent (lactating rat or mouse, postpartum)
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Prepare animals and housing for stress paradigm

Set up lactating rodents in appropriate housing with unfamiliar resident intruders. Prepare equipment (observation chambers, behavioral monitoring setup, maternal behavior recording apparatus).

▶ 01:12
2
Conduct repeated resident-intruder social stress sessions

Expose lactating dams to chronic social stress via repeated exposure to unfamiliar intruder animals. Document stress-induction protocols, duration per session, and frequency over experimental timeline.

▶ 02:08
3
Quantify maternal behavior and depressive-like phenotypes

Record and analyze maternal behavior (nursing, pup retrieval, nest quality) and measure anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors using behavioral assays during lactation under chronic stress.

▶ 04:47
4
Interpret results and postpartum depression model validity

Summarize behavioral and maternal alterations induced by chronic social stress, validate relevance to postpartum depression etiology, and discuss neurobiological implications.

▶ 06:42
💬 Comments coming soon