The Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress (CUMS) model exhibits a high degree of concordance with human depression and can better simulate the responses induced by various low-level stimuli encountered by humans over prolonged periods in diverse environments. It is therefore considered the most classic animal model to date. The modeling method typically involves exposing C57BL/6 mice to a series of mild stressful stimuli (such as foot shock, overnight illumination, water deprivation, food deprivation, cage changing, circadian reversal, restraint, etc.) for several weeks or months, after which the mice display a depressive state.
Fig1. Depression mouse model by chronic unpredictable mildness stimulation. After 6 to 8 weeks of stimulation, mice in the model group exhibited a decrease in the sugar-water preference index (indicating anhedonia) and an increase in the immobility time of the forced swim test and the hanging tail test (indicating a state of despair).
