Ramos André, Pereira Elayne, Martins Gisele C, Wehrmeister Thaize D, Izídio Geison S
Laboratório de Genética do Comportamento, Departamento de Biologia Celular, Embriologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 88.040-900 Florianópolis, SC, Brazil.
Behav Brain Res. 2008 Nov 21;193(2):277-88. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.06.007. Epub 2008 Jun 11.
Current anxiety tests do not provide, individually, a pure and complete picture of an animal's emotional profile. Therefore, many authors test their experimental hypotheses using a series of anxiety-related tests, which are thought to reflect different facets of emotionality. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential usefulness of integrating three widely used behavioral tests, the open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM), and light/dark box (LDB), to assess a wider range of emotional and non-emotional behaviors within one single trial. A protocol was developed where rats could freely explore an OF that was physically connected to an EPM and a LDB during 15min. Classical anxiety- and locomotion-related behaviors from each test were measured. Lewis and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) inbred strains, known to present genetic differences in each of the individual tests, differed for all anxiety-related behaviors from the combined apparatus. Factor analyses revealed that similar anxiety- and locomotion-related factors were produced by the three tests applied either separately or in combination. Under both conditions, each test produced its own anxiety-related factor. Two benzodiazepines, chlordiazepoxide (at 5 and 10mg/kg) and midazolam (at 0.75mg/kg), facilitated the approach towards the EPM open arms, whereas pentylenetetrazole (10mg/kg) specifically inhibited exploration of the three aversive areas (OF center, EPM open arms, LDB light compartment). Together, these results suggest that the new integrated apparatus may contribute to the study of anxiety, by providing a rapid, comprehensive and reliable method of assessing emotionality-related behaviors and its underlying components.
目前的焦虑测试单独来看，无法提供动物情绪特征的纯粹而完整的图景。因此，许多作者使用一系列与焦虑相关的测试来检验他们的实验假设，这些测试被认为能反映情绪的不同方面。本研究的目的是探究整合三种广泛使用的行为测试——旷场试验（OF）、高架十字迷宫（EPM）和明暗箱（LDB）——在单次试验中评估更广泛的情绪和非情绪行为的潜在效用。制定了一个方案，让大鼠在15分钟内自由探索一个与EPM和LDB物理相连的OF。测量了每个测试中与经典焦虑和运动相关的行为。已知在各个单独测试中存在基因差异的近交系Lewis大鼠和自发性高血压大鼠（SHR），在组合装置的所有焦虑相关行为上存在差异。因子分析表明，单独或组合应用这三种测试都会产生相似的与焦虑和运动相关的因子。在这两种情况下，每个测试都产生了自己的焦虑相关因子。两种苯二氮䓬类药物，氯氮卓（5和10mg/kg）和咪达唑仑（0.75mg/kg），促进了大鼠接近EPM的开放臂，而戊四氮（10mg/kg）则特异性抑制了对三个厌恶区域（OF中心、EPM开放臂、LDB亮隔）的探索。总之，这些结果表明，新的整合装置可能有助于焦虑研究，通过提供一种快速、全面且可靠的方法来评估与情绪相关的行为及其潜在成分。
