Housing conditions’ role in female depression models

lab animal Research highlights Depression https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-026-01733-6 Housing conditions’ role in female depression models Check for updates Depression affects more than 280 million people worldwide and remains a major public health challenge due to its complex pathophysiology. Epidemiological studies consistently report a higher prevalence of depression in women than in men, pointing to sex-specific mechanisms underlying disease vulnerability. In pre clinical research, social defeat stress (SDS) is among the most used paradigms for modeling depression-like phenotypes and shows strong construct, predictive and face validity in male rodents. However, using the SDS paradigm with female mice remains difficult because males rarely display spontaneous aggression toward females. Vicarious social defeat stress (VDS) is a potential non-physical alternative that induces psychological stress through witnessing social defeat rather than direct confrontation. A study in Experimental Animals analyzes whether restricting post-stress sensory contact with male mice could improve the reproducibility of behavioral outcomes in a female VDS paradigm. Female mice were exposed to daily VDS sessions using either a conventional paradigm or to conditions designed to limit sensory exposure to male aggressors after stress. Following each witnessing session, females were housed either individually (single-housed; SH) or together with another female (pair-housed; PH) in a separate cage until the next exposure. Researchers assessed social behavior using the social interaction (SI) test, and also evaluated physiological parameters and estrous cycle stage. PH females showed social avoidance when compared with SH and estrous cycle stage did not modulate SI performance. In contrast, housing conditions altered females’ physiology. Compared with PH mice, SH mice showed reduced food intake, increased water consumption and diminished body weight gain, regardless of VDS exposure. These results show that post-stress housing conditions influence physiological outcomes and may confound interpretations of stress susceptibility in female mice. Overall, these data can be used to refine the female-appropriate VDS protocol and to understand the role of housing condition in psychological stress paradigms. Jorge Ferreira Original reference: Yajima Y., Takahashi A. & Toyoda A. Exp. Anim. (2026) https://doi.org/10.1538/expanim.25-0112. Go with the flow. Safely. Effectively. No matter if your specific application is small animal surgery, necropsy, perfusion, trimming, or special procedures...TBJ has a workstation and air flow design to meet your needs and protect you from hazardous fumes and odors. Select from Downdraft, Backdraft or Dual Draft ventilation. A wide variety of optional features including push-button height adjustment, heated surgery work surfaces, surgical lighting, gas outlets, GFCI outlets, integrated sinks with disposers all enable you to tailor a workstation around your EXACT needs. Backdraft Surgery Table Downdraft Workstation Downdraft Workstation Single User Dual Draft Workstation Downdraft Surgery Table VENTED WORKSTATIONS 1671 Orchard Drive, Chambersburg, PA 17201 Phone: 717.261.9700 Fax: 717.261.1730 e-mail: Website: www.tbjinc.com Lab Animal | Volume 55 | May 2026 | 158 Contact TBJ today for a custom consultation and quote on your workstations. Let us help you design a completely tailored system that meets your existing and future needs. 158  (...truncated)