Source Paper
Elucidating the Mechanism of the Liqi Yangyin Formula in Treating Depression–Constipation Comorbidity: An Integrative Approach Using Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation
Xu L, Ong SS, Deng X, Qian Y, Tang Z et al.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel) • 2026
Forced Swimming Test (FST)
Objective: To evaluate depressive-like behavior by measuring immobility time in mice during forced swimming
This is a Forced Swimming Test (FST) protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 2 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2026 paper published in Pharmaceuticals (Basel).
Model and subjects
mouse • C57BL/6 • male • Seven-week-old • 8
Study window
~10 minutes hands-on
Core workflow
Setup water cylinder • Place mouse in cylinder • Record behavior
Primary readouts
- Immobility time during final 4 minutes of swimming (defined as period when mice cease active struggling and only make slight limb movements necessary to keep heads above water)
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
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- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Setup water cylinder
Prepare transparent cylinder with water at controlled temperature and depth
View evidence from paper
“transparent cylinder (height 25 cm, diameter 10 cm) containing 20 cm of water maintained at 25 ± 1 °C”
Place mouse in cylinder
Place each mouse individually in the water-filled cylinder
View evidence from paper
“Each mouse was placed individually in a transparent cylinder”
Record behavior
Record mouse behavior for 6 minutes in a quiet room environment
View evidence from paper
“Behavior was recorded for 6 min in a quiet room”
Measure immobility time
Measure immobility time during the final 4 minutes of the 6-minute test using a stopwatch
View evidence from paper
“immobility time of each mouse during the final 4 min of swimming was measured using a stopwatch”