Use of the Open Field Maze to Measure Locomotor and Anxiety-like Behavior in Mice

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 psycho....

Protocol

NOTE: All procedures performed here were submitted to and approved by IACUC (Office of Research Compliance) and were conducted following NIH guidelines. Mice used in the behavioral testing paradigm were naive and not used for other tests. The C57BL/6 Wild Type and Knock Out mice used in this protocol have been described previously⁹ and the data presented here are from that manuscript.

1. Preparation of the Testing Room and Open Field Apparatus

1. Use a multiple unit open fi.......

Discussion

The Open Field Maze is one of the most widely used platforms in animal behavioral studies. A number of important conventional and ethological parameters^2,4 can be collected and analyzed during the performance of the OFM. These data allow the researcher to measure behaviors ranging from overall locomotor activity to anxiety-related emotional behaviors⁸. However, use of OFM is not without its shortcomings. One confounding issue is the wide range of static variables that can be manipulated during any t.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
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.