Sucrose intake and preference by Wistar Han rats are not influenced by sex or food/water deprivation

Anhedonia is the decreased ability to experience pleasure from rewarding or enjoyable activities, a core symptom of depression. The sucrose preference test (SPT), based on a two-bottle choice paradigm, is a widely used behavioural paradigm for the evaluation of anhedonia in rodents. Up to now, different protocols have been reported regarding water/food deprivation and duration of exposure to the water/sucrose solutions. In this work, by comparing six of the most used SPT protocols regarding sucrose preference and total intake, in both male and female Wistar Han rats, we showed (i) food/water deprivation does not significantly impact sucrose intake and preference; (ii) increasing the duration of the test is associated with an increased sucrose preference and (iii) no sex-specific differences in the basal sucrose preference of Wistar Han rats. Our results call for standardization of protocols and suggest a protocol without food/water deprivation and a 12-hour duration (lights out) as more efficacious in the measurement of anhedonia in rodents. This protocol not only reduces the confounding factors of drinking patterns and the stress-inducing food/water deprivation but also is not sensitive to sex-specific differences in the total intake of liquid in Wistar Han rats.