Sucrose Preference Test
This test measures anhedonia or depression-like symptoms by taking into account an animal's natural affinity for sweetness or the tast of sugar. It is typically used on rodents such as mice or rats. A sugar water solution is mixed up and placed in a bottle. This sucrose mixture is placed inside of the animal's cage along with a bottle of plain water. Within this paradigm, it is expected that the mice or other rodents will go to the sucrose water as their first choice of liquid. However, this response often changes when stress is induced in the rodents. The sucrose preference test gives a baseline for measuring stress-related depression and depressive tendencies within animals. When the sucrose preference measurement is lowered in the experimental group and remains higher in the control group, this serves as indication of anhedonia. In order to carry out this paradigm, you need a bottle of sucrose water, a bottle of normal water, and two cages. The control group would have both bottles placed in a seperate cage that would not recieve the stressful stimulus or other experiemntal treatments. a baseline for testing must be established while also taing into account such factors as body weight, environment, and other conflicting variables. I think that this is a partially useful method for detecting depression as a result of stress. However, I feel that there is potential for some rodents or other animals to develop a genuine dislike for sugar or sweetness that is not directly correlated to depression. I think an improvment for the accuracy could be offering another sweet liquid or another sour liquid to determine genuine preference.