The elevated plus-maze (EPM) is a very common rodent test of anxiety. It is based on an approach-avoidance conflict between secure closed arms and aversive open arms. However, discrepancies remain on the interpretation of animals' behavior in this assay. The purpose of our study was to get a better understanding of the mouse behavior in the EPM. We applied a minute-by-minute analysis to compare...

Prior test experience compromises the anxiolytic efficacy of benzodiazepines (BZs) either in rats or mice, a phenomenon not exclusive to the elevated plus-maze (EPM) animal model of anxiety, which is referred to as "one-trial tolerance." However, it remains to be determined whether a similar event occurs when testing other drugs that also possess binding-sites on the GABA(A) receptor, such as e...

Rats exposed to an elevated plus maze (EPM) with four open arms display antinociception while on the maze and hyperalgesia immediately upon removal. Little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying EPM-induced antinociception and the subsequent hyperalgesia except that the antinociception is not mediated by endogenous opioids. The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis ...

Stress can enhance and inhibit nociception depending on the situation. Thus, simply shifting the context from the elevated plus maze (EPM) which has been shown to produce stress-induced antinociception to a different environment could produce drastic and rapid changes in nociception. The present experiment tested this hypothesis by assessing nociception in rats and mice during and immediately a...

Studies have shown an increased open arm avoidance in rats re-exposed to the elevated plus-maze (EPM), which suggests a qualitative shift in emotional states from an unconditioned (Trial 1) to a learned (Trial 2) form of fear response, but a precise source of aversion has not been determined. Using rats submitted to the EPM or various EPM-derived configurations, this study was designed to inves...

Several variables, including age, are known to influence anxiety. Previous exposure to the elevated-plus maze (EPM) is known to modify emotional behaviour as retesting in the EPM at a standard age of 3 months increases open-arm avoidance and attenuates the effects of anxiolytic drugs. This study analysed whether similar results are obtained when older animals are subjected to these experimental...

Background: Medicinal plants with natural antioxidants have been shown to be beneficial in a variety of complications such as anxiety. The elevated plus-maze (EPM) is one of the most widely used models to assess anxiety in small rodents. Objectives: This study was designed to characterize the anxiolytic-like activity of Borago officinalis (Linnaeus, family Boraginaceae) or Borage flowers extrac...

The elevated plus-maze (EPM) test is one of the most commonly used behavioral assays to evaluate anxiety-related behavior in rodents. It is an economic test (5 min duration) without prior conditioning of the animals. The critical measure for anxiety is the time spent in the open arms of the maze. A confounding problem of the EPM is the so called one-trial tolerance (OTT), characterized by a mar...

The elevated plus-maze (EPM) is an anxiety model thought to assess different types of emotional states depending on whether or not the animals have been previously exposed to the test apparatus. Accordingly, benzodiazepine-treated rodents generally differ from controls in the first but not in the second EPM trial. Inbred Lewis and SHR rats of both sexes (N=10) were submitted twice (test and ret...

The elevated plus maze (EPM) and elevated zero maze (EZM) are behavioral tests that are widely employed to assess anxiety-like behaviors in rats and mice following experimental manipulations, or to test the effects of pharmacological agents. Both tests are based on approach/avoidance conflict, with rodents perceived as "less anxious" being more willing to explore the brighter, open and elevated...