Three murine anxiety models: results from multiple inbred strain comparisons

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Science
• Genetics

Background:

• Rodent models are crucial for studying human anxiety disorders.
• Existing literature presents conflicting findings on whether specific behavioral tasks accurately measure anxiety-like behavior distinct from general activity.
• The genetic and phenotypic correlations between different anxiety models remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the phenotypic and genetic correlations between responses in three common anxiety-like behavioral tasks.
• To determine if anxiety-like behaviors can be dissociated from general activity levels in inbred mouse strains.
• To compare the responses of 15 inbred mouse strains across different anxiety models.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 15 inbred mouse strains.
• Assessed behavior in three distinct anxiety-like tasks: light/dark test, elevated zero-maze, and open field.
• Employed principal components analysis to analyze behavioral data.

Main Results:

• Significant strain differences were observed across all measured variables.
• Principal components analysis revealed that activity and anxiety-related behaviors loaded onto a single factor.
• Urination and defecation loaded onto a separate factor, distinct from activity and anxiety.

Conclusions:

• General activity and anxiety-related behaviors appear to be linked and negatively correlated in the tested assays.
• The findings suggest that dissociating general activity from anxiety-like behavior in these specific rodent models is challenging.
• These results may not be generalizable to all unconditioned anxiety-like behavioral tests.