. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Apr 30.

Published in final edited form as: Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Aug 17;24(5):694–709. doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0219-x

Table 2.

Effects of manipulations of the cholinergic system on depression-like behavior in rodents

Species	Drug	Mechanism	Route	Test	Effect
Mice	Physostigmine	AChEI	Systemic	FST	Depression-like^76–78
				TST	Depression-like^{74, 78}
			Intra-VTA	FST	Depression-like⁷⁵
			Intra-Hipp	TST	Depression-like⁷⁴
				Social defeat	Depression-like⁷⁴
	Scopolamine	Antimuscarinic	Systemic	FST	Antidepressant-like^118–121
				CMS	Antidepressant-like¹¹⁹
				LH	Antidepressant-like^,122
				NSF	Antidepressant-like^{118, 120}
				SP	Antidepressant-like¹¹⁹
	Nicotine	nAChR agonist	Systemic	FST	Antidepressant-like^{154, 156}
				TST	Antidepressant-like^{154, 156}
	Mecamylamine	nAChR antagonist	Systemic	FST	Antidepressant-like^{148, 156}
				TST	Antidepressant-like¹⁵⁶
	Methyllycaconite	a7 nAChR antagonist	Systemic	FST	Antidepressant-like⁷⁶
	Varenicline	a4b2 nAChR partial agonist	Systemic	FST	Antidepressant-like¹⁶⁰
				TST	Antidepressant-like⁷⁶
Rats	Physostigmine	AChEI	Systemic	FST	Depression-like⁷⁵
			Intra-VTA	SP	Depression-like⁸⁴
	Pilocarpine	mAChR agonist	Intra-VTA	FST	Depression-like⁸⁴
	Scopolamine	Antimuscarinic	Intra-VTA	FST	Antidepressant-like⁷⁵
	Mecamylamine	nAChR antagonist	Intra-VTA	FST	Antidepressant-like⁷⁵
			Systemc	FST	Antidepressant-like¹⁵⁸
				CMS	Antidepressant-like¹⁵⁸
				SP	Antidepressant-like¹⁵⁸
	Arecoline	mAChR agonist	Intra-NAc	FST	Depression-like⁸⁶
	Pirenzepine	M1-AChR antagonist	Intra-NAc	FST	Antidepressant-like^{86, 88}
	Gallamine	M2-AChR antagonist	Intra-NAc	FST	Depression-like⁸⁶
	Scopolamine	Antimuscarinic	Intra-NAc	FST	Antidepressant-like⁸⁶
	Nicotine	nAChR agonist	Systemic	FST	Antidepressant-like^{152, 153}
				OBX	Antidepressant-like¹⁵⁵

Abbreviations: AChEI, acetylcholinesterase inhibitor; nAChR, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor; mAChR, muscarinic acetylcholine receptor; M1-AChR, muscarinic 1 acetylcholine receptor; Intra-VTA, intra-ventral tegmental area; Intra-Hipp, intra-hippocampal; Intra-NAc, intra-nucleus accumbens; FST, forced swim test; TST, tail suspension test; SP, sucrose preference; CMS, chronic mild stress; LH, learned helplessness; NSF, novelty suppressed feeding.