Ugo Basile Learned Helplessness Apparatus

The Ugo Basile Learned-Helplessness Apparatus is widely used for assessing depression in rats and mice. When rodents are exposed to unavoidable and unpredictable stress, they opten develop behavioral deficits, including learning and memory.

When rodents are exposed to inescapable and unpredictable stress, such as forced swim or inescapable footshock, they often develop deficits in memory and learning tasks (e.g. Active Avoidance), and often show analgesic reactions (S.I.A. Stress-Induced Analgesia).

The Ugo Basile Learned Helplessness system includes a dark isolation cube, in which the subject is placed, and a controller. The chamber is outfitted with an electrified grid floor, and connected to the controller which consists of a shock generator and a timer. Shocks can be randomized on the basis of duration as well as by interval between shock events. More complex trains of shocks can also be programmed.

The system also includes a user-friendly reporting software, to collect, visualize and export into spreadsheets the delivered shocks.

Mouse or Rat cages are available. This system is expandable, for stimulation of up to 4 animals simultaneously.

Please contact us at for specific academic pricing.