Open field test

The furan derivative (23) has been tested in vivo in tests of motor activity (open-field test) and antinociception (hot-plate test) as well as its capacity to enhance the hypokinetic and/or analgesic actions of subeffective doses of... 

Cunha, J. M., and Masur, J. (1978) Evaluation of psychotropic drugs with a modified open field test. Pharmacology. 16 259-267. 

Cyclic analogs of DMT and DET, i.e, 43 and 44, respectively, have been synthesized the aziridine 43 appears to possess activity as a CNS depressant (171), while the pyrrolidine 44 displays some behavioral activity. Compound 44 was active in Hall s open-field test but was less active than DET (38) (23). In attempts to measure hyperthermic activity, 44 was found to be rather toxic in rabbits (111). Oddly enough, no cyclic analog has ever shown activity/potency comparable to its acyclic counterpart. Thus, based only on scant animal data, cyclization of the lower dialkyl homologs apparently does not lead to marked behavioral activity. 

N-Methyltryptamine (27) was found to have no effect on the acquisition of avoidance behavior (240). Brimblecombe (23) compared the behavioral effects of a series of N-monoalkyltryptamines and N,N-dialkyltryptamines using Hall s open-field test. Although there was no clear-cut structure-activity relationship,... 

Foraging Compared to Trailing and Open Field Testing... 

The behavior of tacl mice was also analyzed in several animal models of anxiety. The open-field test is a widely used tool for behavioral research, but less specific for the evaluation of the anxiety state of the animal, because it is a summation of the spontaneous motor and the exploratory activities, and only the latter is influenced by the anxiety level (Choleris et al. 2001). Under aversive environmental conditions (high level of illumination) the animals activity is strongly affected by the emotional state, while less aversive situations (familiar, dimly lit environment) are useful to assess the general motor activity of mice. Because rodents avoid open areas, the activity of mice in the central part of the open-field arena is inversely correlated to the anxiety level. Tad mice spent only 6.5% of their total activity in the central part, which represented 11% of the total field, indicating that they avoided this aversive area, hi contrast, tacl mice spent 13.6% of their activity in the central area (Bilkei-Gorzo et al. 2002). The increased central activity of the tad mice indicates that the test situation was anxiogenic for tad animals, but less so for the knockout mice. 

There are other tests based on the samp, principles as those apphed m the EPM, such as the hght/dark box or the open-field test. In these experimental paradigms again it is the frequency and the duration that an animal stays m the more aversive and potentially more dangerous part of the test environment (such as the illuminated part of the hght/dark box or the central part of the open field) that are recorded and, if low, reflect an animal s higher level of anxiety... 

EOs from different Lippia alba chemotypes showed behavioural effects. Greater effects were presented by chemotype 2 (with citral and limonene), while chemotype 1, containing citral, myrcene and limonene, decreased only the number of rearings in the open-field test [396]. The EO of lemon was found to modulate the behavioural and neuronal responses related to nociception, pain and anxiety [397, 398]. Thus, there is widespread and increasing interest in complementary and alternative medicines using EOs [399]. 

Using Hall s Open Field test, Valdes administered purified salvinorin A intraperitoneally to mice. He modified the test so that it could be... 

Low-anxiety version test apparatus (similar to the open field test) familiar to the animals, with low illumination. 

Cage or box (as in the open field test) to which mice can be transferred (21). 

The striking anxiety-like phenotype of 5-HT1A-R KO mice raises an important question Does this phenotype reflect the absence of normal receptor activity in the adult animal, indirect compensatory responses to its absence throughout development Initially, all three groups proposed that the KO phenotype was the result of the absence of the receptor in adult animals, in part because the administration of a 5-HT1A antagonist induced an anxietylike response in wild-type mice in the open field test similar to the baseline response seen in 5-HT1A-R KOs (13). 

A number of other assessments have been undertaken on the D4R(—/—) mice aiming to identify subtle behavioral differences. The behavioral responses of the D4R(—/—) mice to novelty were examined with approach avoidance paradigms (Dulawa et al., 1999) and D4R(—/—) mice were found to be significantly less behaviorally responsive to novelty, although responses in two of the assays could be interpreted as enhanced anxiety-like behavior (reduced center entries in an open field test and emergence from a cylinder in an open field). Interestingly, a subsequent study confirmed that anxiety-like behavior, such as reduced exploration of the open arms of the elevated plus maze and longer latencies to... 

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