El uso del campo Maze abierto para medir el comportamiento locomotor y la ansiedad-como en ratones

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

NOTA: Todos los procedimientos realizados aquí fueron presentados y aprobados por IACUC (Oficina de Cumplimiento de Investigación) y se llevaron a cabo siguiendo las directrices del NIH. Los ratones utilizados en el paradigma de las pruebas de comportamiento eran ingenuos y no se utiliza para otras pruebas. La C57BL / 6 de tipo salvaje y ratones knock out utilizado en este protocolo se han descrito anteriormente ⁹ y los datos presentados aquí son de ese manuscrito.

1. Preparació.......

Discussion

El Open Field Maze es una de las plataformas más utilizadas en los estudios de comportamiento animal. Una serie de importantes parámetros convencionales y etológicas ^2,4 puede ser recogida y analizada durante la realización de la OFM. Estos datos permiten al investigador para medir los comportamientos que van desde la actividad general de la locomotora a comportamientos emocionales relacionados con la ansiedad ^8. Sin embargo, el uso de OFM no está exenta de defectos. Un problema confuso es la .......

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.