Objective: To study a suitable animal model for analyzing the therapeutic effect and mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) in the treatment of depression. Methods: For 1) norepinephrine (NE) toxic test

2) 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) head-twitch test and 3) tail-suspension test: three series of 30 male Kunming mice were respectively randomized into control

Prozac-20 and EA groups with 10 cases being in each group. Rats of Prozac-20 group were fed with Prozac-20 (0.2 mL/10 g

2.6 mg/kg)

once daily for one week; those of EA group were given with EA (2 Hz

0.2～0.3 mA for mice

0.6mA for rats) of “Baihui”(GV 20) and “Yintang”(EX-HN 3)

once daily for one week. NE (1.2 mg/mL

12 mg/kg

subcutaneous injection) for observing NE toxicity test

hydrochloric pargylin (100 mg/kg

i.p.) and 5-HTP (10 mg/kg

i.v) for head-twitch were given respectively to the rats of various groups on the 7th day. In another part of experiments

chronic stress model was established by forced ice-water swimming

tail-clamping

electric-shock stimulation

etc. 50 SD rats were equally randomized into control

model

Prozac-20 and bounding groups and EA groups. The methods for EA were the same to those mentioned above. The open field test for recording the rats' rearing and crossing motion times and the sucrose-intake volume were calculated separately. Results: Compared with control group

NE-induced death rate and 5-HTP-induced head-twitch times of EA group had no significant changes; but the immobility duration for tail-suspension test of EA group was significantly lower than those of both control and Prozac-20 groups (P<0.05). In chronic stress rats

the crossing and rearing motion times decreased considerably in comparison with those of control group

while in comparison with rearing motion times of model group

those of both Prozac-20 and EA groups increased significantly (P< 0.05)

and those two indexes of EA group also significantly higher than those of bounding group (P<0.05). Compared with control group

the sucrose-intake volume of model group and bounding group decreased significantly (P<0.05); while compared with bounding group

the sucrose-intake volume of EA group increased significantly (P<0.05)

and no significant difference was found between prozac-20 and EA groups in the volume. Results showed that EA could improve mice's and rats' behavior responses (shortening mice's duration of tail-suspension immobility

and increasing stress rats' locomotor activity). Conclusion: Drug-induced acute depression animal model is not suitable to be used for researching mechanisms of acupuncture

thus

it is recommended to conduct acupuncture research in the changed animals' living conditions and environment or in chronic depression animals.