Forced Swim Test

Forced Swim Test

The Forced Swim Test is based on the assumption that animals try to escape from an aversive stimulus. The test is used to measure the effect of antidepressant drugs or the genotype on the emotional status of animals.

Animals are placed in a transparent Plexiglas cylinder filled with water. The animal’s behavior is recorded and the duration of immobility as well as struggling and swimming is measured. Increased immobility (floating) is interpreted as a behavioral correlate of negative mood, representing depression-like behavior in the animal.

Forced-Swim-Test Chart

Forced-Swim-Test

Forced Swim Test in adult Sprague Dawley rats treated with 2 mg/kg Diazepam. Time spent floating compared to vehicle treated animals. Diazepam: n = 8; Vehicle: n = 9; mean + SEM; T-test, ***p<0.001.

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In Vitro Services

QPS Neuropharmacology provides research services with numerous standardized cell culture systems including transgenic and non-transgenic cell lines, glial cells, primary chicken and rat peripheral and central nervous system neurons of different developmental stages and organotypic brain slices. New models are developed and validated on request.

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As a leading CRO for CNS drug development, QPS Neuropharmacology is the premier provider for services with transgenic animals. We have more than 20 years of experience in generating, characterizing, and maintaining transgenic disease models and applying them for drug testing projects.

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QPS Neuropharmacology's expertise lies within the field of neurodegenerative diseases. We provide a state of the art research environment (AAALAC certified) for testing and evaluating new potential treatment approaches.

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QPS Neuropharmacology's well characterized and validated in vivo models are useful tools to push your CNS drug discovery research forward. We are happy to support your research activities with sample material from our biobank composed of various specimen derived from our in-house in vivo models.

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QPS Neuropharmacology is highly experienced in generating, characterizing, and maintaining transgenic disease models and using them for drug testing projects for more than 20 years.

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QPS Neuropharmacology Department of Translational Medicine offers a selection of molecular biological methods for the investigation of various diseases. The unit supports in vitro and in vivo studies performed at QPS Austria.

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