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      The use of a plus-maze to measure anxiety in the mouse.

      Psychopharmacology
      Springer Science and Business Media LLC

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          Abstract

          To investigate whether an elevated plus-maze consisting of two open and two closed arms could be used as a model of anxiety in the mouse, NIH Swiss mice were tested in the apparatus immediately after a holeboard test. Factor analysis of data from undrugged animals tested in the holeboard and plus-maze yielded three orthogonal factors interpreted as assessing anxiety, directed exploration and locomotion. Anxiolytic drugs (chlordiazepoxide, sodium pentobarbital and ethanol) increased the proportion of time spent on the open arms, and anxiogenic drugs (FG 7142, caffeine and picrotoxin) reduced this measure. Amphetamine and imipramine failed to alter the indices of anxiety. The anxiolytic effect of chlordiazepoxide was reduced in mice that had previously experienced the plus-maze in an undrugged state. Testing animals in the holeboard immediately before the plus-maze test significantly elevated both the percentage of time spent on the open arms and the total number of arm entries, but did not affect the behavioral response to chlordiazepoxide. The plus-maze appears to be a useful test with which to investigate both anxiolytic and anxiogenic agents.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Psychopharmacology (Berl)
          Psychopharmacology
          Springer Science and Business Media LLC
          0033-3158
          0033-3158
          1987
          : 92
          : 2
          Article
          10.1007/BF00177912
          3110839
          3dd6fac7-5fa8-4ffd-8b3f-279c43f6ab3a
          History

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