Major depression is a debilitating mental illness. Symptoms can include listlessness, feeling hopeless, thoughts of death or suicide, and anhedonia. Many different antidepressant medications are available for depression, however many patients are resistant to medication or may try several different medications before finding one that is effective. Targeted and more efficacious medications are needed.

Potential antidepressant compounds can be screened using predictive animal models. The forced swim test and tail suspension test are both widely accepted methods for screening antidepressant compounds. Animals are placed in a cylindrical tank filled with water (forced swim test) or suspended by their tail (tail suspension test) and time spent immobile versus struggling is measured. Immobility is thought to be an index of a depressive-like state which can be reduced in response to antidepressant treatment.