Behavioural validation of a light/dark choice procedure for testing anti-anxiety agents

In order to teat the behavioural value of a two-chambered light/dark choice procedure used for pharmacological studies, we investigated the effects of several internal and external factors on two variables: the time spent by mice in the lit box (TLB) and the number of transitions between the lit box and the dark one. The present results indicate that this procedure can be considered as an unconditioned conflict paradigm based at once on the innate tendency of mice to seek refuge in a dark box and their propensity to escape novel places into which they have been forced. It is suggested that this test is particularly well adopted to measuring the antiaversive properties of the so called "anxiolytic" drugs.