Title
Modeling the anxiety-depression continuum hypothesis in domestic fowl chicks
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2006
Abstract
Anxiety and depression are currently classified as separate clinical syndromes despite considerable similarities in their symptoms, pathophysiological substrates and response to treatment interventions. An alternative hypothesis views anxiety and depression along a temporal continuum, a construct that the current research attempts to model in a preclinical setting. In experiment 1, socially raised domestic fowl chicks separated from conspecifics demonstrated a pattern of distress vocalizations that sequentially models anxiety-like and depressive-like states. In addition, administration of the benzodiazepine anxiolytic chlordiazepoxide and the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine provided pharmacological validation for the model in that they were capable of dissociating the anxiety-like and depressive-like states. In experiment 2, corticosterone levels were quantified across the isolation test session to provide convergent validity to the model. These findings fit well with the human clinical literature on the anxiety-depression continuum perspective, and suggest the consideration of a nosology that emphasizes the inter-relatedness of these clinical states rather than their boundaries. © 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.
DOI
10.1097/FBP.0b013e3280115fac
First Page
681
Last Page
689
Volume
17
Issue
8
Publication Title
Behavioural Pharmacology
ISSN
09558810
Recommended Citation
Sufka, K. J., Feltenstein, M. W., Warnick, J. E., Acevedo, E. O., Webb, H. E., & Cartwright, C. M. (2006). Modeling the anxiety–depression continuum hypothesis in domestic fowl chicks. Behavioural Pharmacology, 17(8), 681–689. https://doi.org/10.1097/fbp.0b013e3280115fac
Comments
At the time of publication, Jason E. Warnick was affiliated with University of Mississippi.