Forced Swim Test

The Porsolt forced swim test, also known as the behavioral despair test, is used to test for depression-like behavior in both mice and rats. The test includes placing a rat or mouse inside a cylinder filled with water. The mobility of the animal is measured. Traditionally, ‘floating behavior’ (the animal remains almost immobile and with its head above water) is used as a parameter to analyze ‘hopelessness’ and thus depression-like behavior.

AES-FST1: One Box Forced Swim Test Station
LabState license: video global activity, one box
Hardware components:
1. One USB camera
2. One cylinder tube (rat 30cm, mouse 20cm)

AES-FST4: Four-Box Forced Swim Test Station
LabState license: video global activity, four boxes
Hardware components:
1. One USB analog video grabber
2. One four-channel analog video splitter
3. Four cameras
4. Four cylinder tube (rat 30cm, mouse 20cm)