Chronic Social Defeat Stress Mouse Model: Current View on Its Behavioral Deficits and Modifications

Stress is the main cause of mood disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Individuals respond to stress differently, as some develop depressive symptoms, whereas others successfully cope with adversity, but it remains unclear what makes some particularly vulnerable to stress. The chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) mouse model, an ethologically valid rodent model that exhibits long-term physiological and behavioral phenotypes similar to depression and anxiety, can imitate individual differences in stress responses in humans. In this review, we not only summarize various behavioral deficits of the CSDS mouse model that were reported since its establishment but also concentrate on modified CSDS mouse models that have been developed in recent years, aiming at providing useful information for future research and application of this model.