Anxiety – Elevated Plus Maze (EPM)
The elevated plus maze is widely used as an anxiety paradigm and is based on the conflict between the natural tendency of rodents to explore a novel environment versus the natural tendency to avoid narrow elevated open area. A combination of maze height, luminosity and open space is assumed to induce fear or anxiety, the degree of which is assessed by measuring the amount of time the subject spends in open arms of the maze.
Pretreatment with diazepam (2.5 mg/kg; po) increases the time the mice spend in the open arms of the EPM.
Pretreatment with diazepam (2.5 mg/kg; po) does not have an effect on activity in the EPM as measured by number of total arm entries.
Pretreatment with diazepam (2.5 mg/kg; po) does not have an effect on distance traveled in the open and closed arms of the EPM.
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In Sprague Dawley rats, pretreatment with chlordiazepoxide (10 and 15 mg/kg, i.p.) increases the time the rats spend in the open arms of the EPM.
In Sprague Dawley rats, pretreatment with chlordiazepoxide (10 and 15 mg/kg, i.p.) has no effect on locomotor activity as measured by the distance traveled in open and closed arms of the EPM.
In Sprague Dawley rats, pretreatment with chlordiazepoxide (10 and 15 mg/kg, i.p.) has no effect on total arm entries in the EPM.
