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The four-plates test: anxiolytic or analgesic paradigm?
Nadège Ripoll1, Martine Hascoët, Michel Bourin
1EA 3256, Neurobiologie de l'anxiété et de la dépression, Faculté de Médecine, BP 53508, 1 rue Gaston Veil, F44035 Nantes cedex 01, France.
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
|April 29, 2006
Summary
The four-plates test (FPT) distinguishes anxiety from pain. Drug effects in the FPT indicate anxiolytic activity, not pain relief, suggesting pure anxiety reduction.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pharmacology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- The four-plates test (FPT) models anxiety by measuring suppressed exploration due to mild electric foot shocks.
- Stressful stimuli, like foot shocks, activate the anti-nociceptive system, potentially confounding anxiety test results.
- Differentiating drug-induced anti-punishment effects in the FPT from pain sensitivity alterations is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare drug effects in the FPT and the hot-plate test (pain model).
- To disambiguate whether FPT anti-punishment effects stem from anxiolysis or analgesia.
- To investigate the role of various compounds in anxiety and nociception.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the four-plates test (FPT) as an animal model of anxiety.
- Employed the hot-plate test as an animal model of pain.
- Administered various compounds known to affect anxiety and nociception, including morphine, alprazolam, diazepam, desipramine, maprotiline, milnacipran, venlafaxine, paroxetine, and nomifensine.
Main Results:
- Morphine showed strong anti-nociception but no effect on FPT shock frequency.
- Alprazolam and diazepam produced anxiolytic-like effects in FPT without altering pain thresholds.
- Antidepressants with previously reported anxiogenic effects in FPT (desipramine, maprotiline) were found to be analgesic.
- Milnacipran, venlafaxine, and paroxetine, anxiolytic in FPT, did not affect pain thresholds.
- Nomifensine was ineffective in both tests.
Conclusions:
- Drug-induced anti-punishment effects in the FPT are primarily due to anxiolytic actions.
- These effects are not confounded by alterations in pain sensitivity.
- The FPT can reliably assess pure anxiolytic-like drug effects.
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