Forced swim test (FST)

Forced swim test (FST) : The main principle is that animals are forced to swim in a limited and unable to escape space. Due to the innate aversion of rodents to water, they will struggle desperately to swim in the water and try to escape from the water environment. After a period of time, it is found that the animals stop struggling when they have no hope to escape, showing a state of "behavioral despair" (stop struggling to escape in the water and float immobile). By recording the time spent in the floating immobility state, longer immobility time indicated more severe depression.