A panic experimental model: Validation of a complex operant behavioral method in undernourished rats, with desipramine to provide a template effect profile

Compared to control rats, deprived rats showed a significant and selective anticonflict effect of desipramine on the stressful and complex operant performance. The animal model of perinatally protein-deprived rats along with the Geller-Seifter's operant behavioral paradigm may represent a more sensitive approach to model human anxiety sensitive to antidepressant treatments by considering the combined impact of both early biological trauma and adult learned experiences under the same design.