생쥐의 강제수영시 부동자세시간과 통각예민도 간의 상관관계

Correlation between Pain Sensitivity and Duration of Immobility during Forced Swimming in Mice

The purpose of the study is to test by an animal experiment the hypothesis that pain insensitivity in depression is a trait marker rather than a state marker. 39 mice were studied for pain sensitivity by means of tail flick test before and after 6 minutes of forced swimming and for total duration of immobility during the last 4 minutes of forced swimming The correlation coefficients were calculated among the basal pain sensitivity, the change of pain sensitivity after forced swimming and duration of immobility during the forced swimming. The results are as follows. 1) A significant positive correlation was proved between the degree of pain insensitivity and duration o f immobility during forced swimming. 2) The forced swimming induced a significant pain insensitivity and a significant negative correlation was shown between duration of immobility and the change of pain sensitivity after forced swimming. From these results, the auther suggests that pain insensitivity in depression may be a trait marker rather than a state marker depending on the state of depression itself.