The standard elevated plus-maze is commonly used to assess anxiety-like behavior in laboratory animals (rats/mice). The maze is usually a cross shaped maze with two open arms and two closed arms, which is elevated above the floor.

This task exploits the conflict between the innate fear that rodents have of open areas versus their desire to explore novel environments. Security is provided by the closed arms whereas the open arms offer exploratory value. When anxious, the natural tendency of rodents is to prefer enclosed dark spaces to opened brightly lit spaces. In this context, anxiety-related behavior is measured by the degree to which the rodent avoids the unenclosed arms of the maze.

The Panlab/Harvard Apparatus elevated-plus-maze is currently built in two different configurations (each one available for mice or rat):

• Basic maze which can be associated to our SMART Video-Tracking System
• Maze equipped with rows of infrared photocells connected to a computer through the LE3846 control unit and the Panlab/Harvard Apparatus MazeSoft-4 software.

Citations
Balerio GN, Aso E, Maldonado R. (2005) Involvement of the opioid system in the effects induced by nicotine on anxiety-like behavior in mice. Psychopharmacol. (Berl) in press.
Yau JLW et al. (2002) Chronic treatment with the antidepressant amitriptyline prevents impairments in water maze learning in aging rats. J. Neurosci. 22(4): 1435-1442. (standard maze, rat, UK)
Welberg LAM et al. (2000) Inhibition of 11_-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, the foeto-placental barrier to maternal glucocorticoids, permanently programs amygdala GR mRNA expression and anxiety-like behavior in the offspring. Eur. J. Neurosci. 12(3) : 1047-1054 (rats, UK)