Treatment with imipramine rescues short-term and long-term memory deficits induced by chronic stress. (a) Representation of the current experimental timeline, including behavioral assessments and treatments. (b) Evaluation of corticosterone levels in rats blood serum, collected at nadir and zenith timepoints, at tp1 (immediately after the end of the uCMS protocol) (c,d) Evaluation of short- (c) and long-term memory (d) in the novel object recognition test (NOR), both at tp1 and tp2. * Represents uCMS effect analyzed by Student’s t-test; # Represents ADs effect, by comparison of treatment and SAL animals; and δ represents differences between ADs, analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Data are represented as mean ± s.e.m. *, #, δ p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p< 0.0001; Sample size: Corticosterone assay: CTRL: 12–14; CMS: 7–8; FLX: 8; IMIP: 6–10; TP1: CTRL: 10; CMS: 6; FLX: 8; IMIP: 8; TP2: CTRL: 10; CMS: 8; FLX: 8; and IMIP: 8. uCMS, unpredictable chronic mild stress protocol; AD, antidepressant; CTRL, non-stressed animals; IMIP, animals exposed to stress protocol and treated with imipramine; FLX, animals exposed to stress protocol and treated with fluoxetine; FST, forced-swimming test; NOR, novel object recognition; SCT, sucrose consumption test; SAL, animals exposed to stress protocol and injected with saline; OF, Open field test; tp1, time point 1 (6 weeks; immediately after the end of the uCMS protocol); and tp2, time point 2 (10 weeks; 4 weeks after the end of the uCMS protocol).