Sucrose preference test
The SPT was used to determine anhedonia-like behavior, which is
considered a core symptom of depression. Rats were habituated to drink
from two bottles of 1% sucrose for 48 hours. After training, the rats
were deprived of food and water for 24 hours before the test. On the
test day, one bottle containing 1% sucrose solution in tap water and
the other containing tap water alone were placed in the rat’s home cages
simultaneously, and rats were allowed to drink freely from both bottles
for 1 hour. Water and sucrose consumption was measured by comparing the
weight difference of the bottles before and after the test. Anhedonia
was assessed as sucrose preference, which was calculated according to
the following formula: sucrose preference=sucrose intake (g)/(sucrose
intake [g] + water intake [g]) × 100%. To exclude the
non-specific suppression of drinking, total fluid consumption was
calculated as the sum of sucrose intake and water intake.