Time course of ethanol's effects on locomotor activity, exploration and anxiety in mice.

The time course of the effects of two doses of ethanol on exploration, locomotor activity and anxiety were investigated using the holeboard and plus-maze tests. In an 8 min holeboard test the lower (1.2 g/kg) dose increased both exploration and locomotor activity 0.5 h after ethanol administration whereas the higher (2.4 g/kg) dose decreased exploration but caused an even greater increase in locomotor activity. This activity increase was also seen 1 h post-administration. In the plus-maze test both doses showed an increased number of arm-entries 0.5 h and 1 h after administration but only the 2.4 g/kg dose caused anxiolytic effects persisting for over 2 h. The results add further support to the notion that the behavioral effects of ethanol vary with dose, time of administration and the behavioral measure taken.