Almeida S S, Garcia R A, de Oliveira L M
Laboratory of Psychobiology, FFCLRP, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
Physiol Behav. 1993 Oct;54(4):749-52. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(93)90086-u.
An elevated plus-maze was used to investigate the effects of repeated testing on the locomotor and exploratory behaviors of malnourished rats. Pup malnutrition was induced during the lactation period (0 to 21 days of age) by feeding the dams a protein-deficient diet (6% protein) and the animals were allowed to recover from weaning to 70 days of age by eating a commercial lab chow diet. Control animals were suckled by dams receiving a normal protein diet (16% protein) during the lactation period and were fed a commercial lab chow diet after weaning. At 70 days, malnourished and control animals were placed on the central platform of the elevated plus-maze facing an enclosed arm and allowed to explore for 5 min. This procedure was repeated at 24-h intervals for 6 days. The repeated testing in the elevated plus-maze did not change the total number of arm entries and attempts to enter open arms, but decreased the percentage of open arm entries, time spent in open arms, and total time spent on the central platform. These data suggest an increase in anxiety with repeated testing in the elevated plus-maze. In addition, the malnourished animals showed a larger number of both rearings and attempts to enter the open arms, suggesting a high level of exploration and/or high impulsiveness of these animals as compared to control. The elevated plus-maze proved to be a useful animal model to evaluate exploratory behaviors in early protein malnourished animals.
使用高架十字迷宫来研究重复测试对营养不良大鼠运动和探索行为的影响。在哺乳期（0至21日龄），通过给母鼠喂食蛋白质缺乏饮食（6%蛋白质）诱导幼崽营养不良，然后让动物通过食用商业实验室常规饮食从断奶恢复到70日龄。对照动物在哺乳期由接受正常蛋白质饮食（16%蛋白质）的母鼠哺乳，并在断奶后喂食商业实验室常规饮食。在70日龄时，将营养不良和对照动物放置在高架十字迷宫的中央平台上，面对一个封闭臂，让它们探索5分钟。此程序以24小时间隔重复6天。在高架十字迷宫中的重复测试并未改变进入臂的总数和进入开放臂的尝试次数，但降低了进入开放臂的百分比、在开放臂中花费的时间以及在中央平台上花费的总时间。这些数据表明，在高架十字迷宫中重复测试会增加焦虑。此外，营养不良的动物表现出更多的竖毛行为和进入开放臂的尝试次数，表明与对照相比，这些动物具有较高的探索水平和/或较高的冲动性。高架十字迷宫被证明是评估早期蛋白质营养不良动物探索行为的有用动物模型。
