Neuroscience

Pleasure

Statistics

Protocol (science)

Alternative medicine

Psychology

Preference

Mathematics

Medicine

Preference test

Adaptation (eye)

Pathology

Anhedonia

Nature Protocols

Anhedonia is the inability to experience pleasure from rewarding or enjoyable activities and is a core symptom of depression in humans. Here, we describe a protocol for the measurement of anhedonia in mice, in which anhedonia is measured by a sucrose preference test (SPT) based on a two-bottle choice paradigm. A reduction in the sucrose preference ratio in experimental relative to control mice is indicative of anhedonia. To date, inconsistent and variable results have been reported following the use of the SPT by different groups, probably due to the use of different protocols and equipment. In this protocol, we describe how to set up a clearly defined apparatus for SPT and provide a detailed protocol to ensure greater consistency when carrying out SPT. This optimized protocol is highly sensitive, reliable, and adaptable for evaluation of chronic stress–related anhedonia, as well as morphine-induced dependence. The whole SPT, including adaptation, baseline measurement, and testing, takes 8 d. This protocol describes how to carry out the sucrose preference test (SPT) in a standardized way to reduce data variability. The SPT is a widely used behavioral assay to monitor depression-related behavior in rodents.

Sucrose preference test for measurement of stress-induced anhedonia in mice