The Elevated Plus Maze Test for Measuring Anxiety-Like Behavior in Rodents

Ann-Katrin Kraeuter; Paul C Guest; Zoltán Sarnyai

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_4

The Elevated Plus Maze Test for Measuring Anxiety-Like Behavior in Rodents

Methods Mol Biol. 2019:1916:69-74. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_4.

Authors

Ann-Katrin Kraeuter^{1

2}, Paul C Guest³, Zoltán Sarnyai^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
² Discipline of Biomedicine, College of Public Health, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
³ Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. zoltan.sarnyai@jcu.edu.au.
⁵ Discipline of Biomedicine, College of Public Health, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. zoltan.sarnyai@jcu.edu.au.

PMID: 30535682
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_4

Abstract

The elevated plus maze test is used to measure anxiety-like behavior in rodents. It can be used to gain insight into conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions marked by anxious behavior. It can also be used as a component in screening of novel compounds for anxiolytic properties. This model is based on aversion to open spaces, which is seen as the animal spending more time in the enclosed arms of the maze. This chapter describes the steps necessary for setting up and conducting the test, along with interpretation of the results.

Keywords: Anxiety; Anxiolytic; Behavior; Elevated plus maze; Mouse; Rodent.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Anxiety Agents / administration & dosage
Anxiety / drug therapy*
Anxiety / physiopathology
Behavior, Animal / drug effects*
Disease Models, Animal
Humans
Maze Learning / physiology
Mice
Molecular Biology / methods*
Rodentia
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / drug therapy*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / physiopathology

Substances

Anti-Anxiety Agents