TY - JOUR
T1 - Validation of the dimensionality emergence assay for the measurement of innate anxiety in laboratory mice
AU - Jain, Apar
AU - Dvorkin, Anna
AU - Fonio, Ehud
AU - Golani, Ilan
AU - Gross, Cornelius T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Mumna Al Banchaabouchi and other members of the EMBL Phenotyping facility for their patience in helping to set up the dimensionality emergence assay apparatus in their facility, Francesca Zonfrillo for mouse husbandry, and Gabriele Zolano for help in assembling the testing apparatus. This work was supported by funds from the European Commission ( FP7-DEVANX Collaborative Grant, C.G.) and EMBL (A.J., C.G.).
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - The open field test is a common tool to measure innate anxiety in rodents. In the usual configuration of this test the animal is forced to explore the open arena and its behavior includes both anxiety and non-anxiety responses. However, the open arena is generally small and allows only limited expression of exploratory behavior. The recently developed dimensionality emergence assay in which an animal is housed in a home cage with free access to a large circular arena elicits graded exploration and promises to serve as a more ethological test of anxiety. Here we examined the predictive validity of this assay for anxiety-related measures in mice. First, we compared their behavior in the presence or absence of access to the home cage and found that mice with access to the home cage exhibited a gradual build-up in exploration of the arena while those without did not. Then we identified behavioral measures that responded to treatment with the anxiolytic drug diazepam. Diazepam altered several classical measures of innate anxiety, such as distance traveled and thigmotaxis, but also led to a dose-dependent acceleration of the build-up as reflected in a significantly reduced latency to attain several exploratory landmarks. Finally, we tested the utility of the dimensionality emergence assay in assessing alterations in innate anxiety reported in mice carrying a knockout allele for the serotonin 1A receptor (Htr1a). Our findings support the validity of the dimensionality emergence assay as a method to extract an expanded repertoire of behavioral measures for the assessment of anxiety in laboratory mice.
AB - The open field test is a common tool to measure innate anxiety in rodents. In the usual configuration of this test the animal is forced to explore the open arena and its behavior includes both anxiety and non-anxiety responses. However, the open arena is generally small and allows only limited expression of exploratory behavior. The recently developed dimensionality emergence assay in which an animal is housed in a home cage with free access to a large circular arena elicits graded exploration and promises to serve as a more ethological test of anxiety. Here we examined the predictive validity of this assay for anxiety-related measures in mice. First, we compared their behavior in the presence or absence of access to the home cage and found that mice with access to the home cage exhibited a gradual build-up in exploration of the arena while those without did not. Then we identified behavioral measures that responded to treatment with the anxiolytic drug diazepam. Diazepam altered several classical measures of innate anxiety, such as distance traveled and thigmotaxis, but also led to a dose-dependent acceleration of the build-up as reflected in a significantly reduced latency to attain several exploratory landmarks. Finally, we tested the utility of the dimensionality emergence assay in assessing alterations in innate anxiety reported in mice carrying a knockout allele for the serotonin 1A receptor (Htr1a). Our findings support the validity of the dimensionality emergence assay as a method to extract an expanded repertoire of behavioral measures for the assessment of anxiety in laboratory mice.
KW - Anxiety
KW - Diazepam
KW - Dimensionality emergence assay
KW - Mice
KW - Open field
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855205359&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2011.07.001
DO - 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2011.07.001
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AN - SCOPUS:84855205359
SN - 0924-977X
VL - 22
SP - 153
EP - 163
JO - European Neuropsychopharmacology
JF - European Neuropsychopharmacology
IS - 2
ER -