Preclinical animal anxiety research - flaws and prejudices.

The current tests of anxiety in mice and rats used in preclinical research include the elevated plus-maze (EPM) or zero-maze (EZM), the light/dark box (LDB), and the open-field (OF). They are currently very popular, and despite their poor achievements, they continue to exert considerable constraints on the development of novel approaches. Hence, a novel anxiety test needs to be compared with these traditional tests, and assessed against various factors that were identified as a source of their inconsistent and contradictory results.

Long-Term Cognitive Deficits After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Rats.

Background: Cognitive dysfunction can be a long-term complication following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Preclinical models have been variously characterized to emulate this disorder. This study was designed to directly compare long-term cognitive deficits in the context of similar levels of insult severity in the cisterna magna double-blood (DB) injection versus prechiasmatic blood (PB) injection SAH models.

Open space anxiety test in rodents: the elevated platform with steep slopes.

This report describes a behavioral test protocol for assessing anxiety in mice and rats in single or multiple sessions. The test is based on exposure of animals to an open-space elevated platform with suspended steep slopes attached on two opposite sides. In this test, all animals cross frequently onto and spend more time in the areas adjacent to slopes than in the areas adjacent to a void space.

Effects of exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic field of 2 G intensity on memory and corticosterone level in rats.

In the present study, we examined the effects of chronic exposure (1 and 2 weeks) to an extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELFMF) of 2 G intensity on memory in rats using an object recognition task. Comparable groups of rats were exposed for 1, 2 or 4 weeks to ELFMF and the following day blood samples were collected from each rat for the measurement of corticosterone level. Our results demonstrate that exposure to ELFMF induces a significant increase in the level of corticosterone in blood plasma and is associated with impairment in discrimination between familiar and novel objects.