3.3 Chronic D-serine treatment restored the CSDS-induced depressive symptoms
We further utilized the CSDS model to characterize the antidepressant effects of D-serine, which mimics many symptoms of depression in human(Rouhiainen et al., 2019). As shown in Figure 3A, all mice spent similar time in the interaction zone during the target absent trial. CSDS-defeated mice spent significantly less time in the interaction zone compared to vehicle-treated mice when the CD1 aggressor was present. Interestingly, 14 days of administration with D-serine significantly reversed the CSDS-induced social avoidance behavior, peculiarly at 5 ug/perside, similar to fluoxetine. In addition, CSDS induced a significantly decrease in sucrose preference, compared with control group. 14-day administration with D-serine in CSDS-susceptible mice prompted an obvious increase of sucrose intake (Figure 3B). Collectively, these results revealed that D-serine produces antidepressant effects in depressive mice.