The Open Field Test for Measuring Locomotor Activity and Anxiety-Like Behavior

Ann-Katrin Kraeuter; Paul C Guest; Zoltán Sarnyai

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_9

The Open Field Test for Measuring Locomotor Activity and Anxiety-Like Behavior

Methods Mol Biol. 2019:1916:99-103. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_9.

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: 30535687
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_9

Abstract

The open field test is used in studies of the neurobiological basis of anxiety and screening for novel drug targets and anxiolytic compounds. This test uses a camera to measure movement of the test animal in the peripheral and central zones of a 42 × 42 × 42 cm polyvinyl chloride box. This chapter describes a protocol for carrying out the open-field test for assessment of locomotion and anxiety-like behavior in mice.

Keywords: Anxiety; Behavior; Locomotion; Open-filed; Psychiatric disorder.

MeSH terms

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

Substances

Anti-Anxiety Agents