Summary

L'utilisation de l'Open Field Maze mesurer locomoteur et de l'anxiété comme comportement chez la souris

Published: February 06, 2015
doi:

Summary

A protocol is provided to use an Open Field Maze to access general locomotor activity, anxiety and emotionality in a laboratory mouse model.

Abstract

Animal models have proven to be invaluable to researchers trying to answer questions regarding the mechanisms of behavior. The Open Field Maze is one of the most commonly used platforms to measure behaviors in animal models. It is a fast and relatively easy test that provides a variety of behavioral information ranging from general ambulatory ability to data regarding the emotionality of the subject animal. As it relates to rodent models, the procedure allows the study of different strains of mice or rats both laboratory bred and wild-captured. The technique also readily lends itself to the investigation of different pharmacological compounds for anxiolytic or anxiogenic effects. Here, a protocol for use of the open field maze to describe mouse behaviors is detailed and a simple analysis of general locomotor ability and anxiety-related emotional behaviors between two strains of C57BL/6 mice is performed. Briefly, using the described protocol we show Wild Type mice exhibited significantly less anxiety related behaviors than did age-matched Knock Out mice while both strains exhibited similar ambulatory ability.

Introduction

The Open Field Maze (OFM) was initially developed in 1934 as a test to measure emotionality in rodents1. It has attained the status of being one of the most widely used measures of behavior in animal psychology2. It provides an easy and fairly rapid assessment of well-defined behaviors requiring no training to the test subject and little to no specialized training for the human administering the test. These attributes have led to wide-spread use of the open field maze in research extended to other animal species such as calves, pigs, rabbits, primates, honeybees and lobsters3. Part of its popularity arises from the fact that the psychological and physiological concepts underlying the tests are generally straight-forward and well understood. For example, it has been postulated that evolutionary forces have selected for a common response in animals such that most species display anxiety-mediated fear or flight responses to specific stimuli. Rodents for example, show distinct aversions to large, brightly lit, open and unknown environments4. We can assume they have been phylogenetically conditioned to see these types of environments as dangerous. All of these features are incorporated in the open field maze and form the basis of its use in behavioral paradigm testing.

An open field maze consists of a wall-enclosed area that is of sufficient height to prevent the subject from escaping. Typical maze shapes are circular or square with an area large enough, based on the size of the subject tested, to elicit a feeling of openness in the center of the maze. A number of variables can be scored in the open field maze with most parameters involving differing types of motor activity2. Ambulation is the most common behavior studied but others such as latency or rearing can also be measured. Most often, rodent behavior is analyzed in a bare maze. However, the addition of objects, either one or many to the maze floor, adds the ability to see how the subject interacts with novel additional stimuli2. Relevant parameters when objects are presented are typically the number of approaches to an object or in some cases, preference or aversion for one object over another.

Many behavioral tests of anxiety are based on the subject animal’s body activity and locomotion5. Interpreting behavioral tests for emotionality while separating non-emotional confounding factors, such as motor activity, has been the subject of intense debate6,7. As the OFM was originally described, two measures of emotionality can be deduced, locomotor activity and fecal boli deposits or defecation1. However, these two measures have been shown in some studies to be unrelated supporting the conclusion that emotionality in rodents is multidimensional5. Regardless, discrepancies in the literature regarding these measures and emotionality or anxiety in mouse models may be attributed to differences in analysis criteria or differences in testing procedures. Studies have conclusively linked results from OFM analysis with other measures of anxiety when comparing mouse models8.

Protocol

NOTE: Toutes les procédures effectuées ici ont été soumises et approuvées par IACUC (Office of Compliance recherche) et ont été réalisées suivant les directives du NIH. Souris utilisées dans le paradigme de tests comportementaux ont été naïf et ne est pas utilisé pour d'autres tests. Le C57BL / 6 de type sauvage et des souris Knock Out utilisé dans ce protocole ont été précédemment décrit 9 et les données présentées ici sont de ce manuscrit. 1. Préparatio…

Representative Results

Le nombre moyen d'individus par souche de souris testées dans la plupart des cas est d'environ 20 pour générer pertinence statistique suffisante. Toutefois, ce nombre peut être de l'ordre de 8 à 30 en fonction de la disponibilité de la souris. En fonction de la mesure ou la comparaison de besoin, il est également avantageux d'utiliser des sujets de même âge. Le premier et sans doute le plus important paramètre spécifique pour mesurer dans le Open Field Maze est la …

Discussion

L'Open Field Maze est une des plateformes les plus largement utilisés dans les études de comportement des animaux. Un certain nombre de paramètres classiques et éthologiques importants 2,4 peut être collecté et analysé pendant l'exécution de la BCI. Ces données permettent aux chercheurs de mesurer les comportements allant de l'activité globale locomotrice à des comportements émotionnels liés à l'anxiété 8. Cependant, l'utilisation de BCI ne est pas sans ses défa…

Disclosures

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The National Institute of Health (NIH-2RO1NS033661) and by the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (HATCH ALA021-1-09017).

Materials

Multi Unit Open Field Test San Diego Instruments, Inc. White 7001-0354 Any single or multi unit open field maze can be used
SMART DT Tracking Software PanLab/Harvard Apparatus 76-0695 Any tracking software can be utilized with this protocol
Sony 990x Video Camera Recorder Sony CCD-TRV328 Any suitable video camera can be attached to computer for recording tracking profiles.

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Cite This Article
Seibenhener, M. L., Wooten, M. C. Use of the Open Field Maze to Measure Locomotor and Anxiety-like Behavior in Mice. J. Vis. Exp. (96), e52434, doi:10.3791/52434 (2015).

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