The mouse light/dark box test
Introduction
The light/dark test is based on the innate aversion of rodents to brightly illuminated areas and on the spontaneous exploratory behaviour of rodents in response to mild stressors, that is, novel environment and light (Crawley and Goodwin, 1980). A natural conflict situation occurs when an animal is exposed to an unfamiliar environment or novel objects. The conflict is between the tendency to explore and the initial tendency to avoid the unfamiliar (neophobia). The exploratory activity reflects the combined result of these tendencies in novel situations. Thus, in the light/dark test, drug-induced increase in behaviours in the white part of a two-compartment box, in which a large white compartment is illuminated and a small black compartment is darkened, is suggested as an index of anxiolytic activity. An increase in transitions without an increase in spontaneous locomotion is considered to reflect anxiolytic activity. It is interesting to note that this effect is only observed in certain strains of mice or with certain drugs. This model differs from other purported models of anxiety which are not equivalent in terms of elicited/induced emotional state File 1992, Njung'e and Handley 1991, Treit, 1990, De Vry et al., 1993. The goal of this paper is to review the main data obtained with the light/dark test and point out the inconsistent findings linked with the various modifications of the apparatus as well as the methodology.
Section snippets
Test apparatus
Although the light/dark test was based on the initial model described by Crawley and Goodwin (1980), many authors have used it with several structural modifications (Table 1).
Typical dimensions of the compartment are generally one third for the dark compartment and two thirds for the light compartment with an exterior size of 46×27×30 cm (l×b×h). Nevertheless, Costall et al. (1989) have differently distributed the compartments with two thirds for the dark compartment. The model is based on the
Animals
This test was developed with male mice. As inbred mice displayed substantial variability in spontaneous behaviour, the choice of strain may be a crucial parameter. Early studies with this paradigm concluded that highly active strains of mice show consistently larger percentage increases in exploratory behaviour after diazepam treatment. The C57Bl/6J and the SW-NIH strains seem to be the strains of choice for anti-anxiety testing in the light/dark test (Crawley and Davis, 1982).
The C57Bl/6J
Test conditions
The extent to which an anxiolytic compound can facilitate exploratory activity depends on the baseline level in the control group. There are a number of non-genetic non-pharmacological manipulations that modulate the general stress levels of animals, which, when performed before testing, have profound effects on behaviour. Deliberate or accidental manipulation of these influential factors can also dramatically alter the effects of drugs (Hoggs, 1996). Differences between the type and severity
Scoring of behaviour
Crawley and Goodwin (1980) described a model in which benzodiazepines produced a facilitation of exploratory behaviour between an illuminated open field and a dark enclosure. Mice placed in the white area (which they found aversive) would generally move around the periphery until they found an opening, at floor level, to enable access to the black compartment, and this usually occurred within 7–12 s. The essential feature was the measurement of increased transitions between the light and dark
Drugs
In the present section, the results were obtained after systemic administration of the drugs by the intraperitoneal or subcutaneous route Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, Table 6, Table 7.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the light/dark test may be useful to predict the anxiolytic-like or anxiogenic-like activity of drug in mice. It has the advantages of being quick and easy to use, without the prior training of animals, food and water deprivation is unnecessary and natural stimuli are used. Transitions have been reported to be an index of activity-exploration because of habituation over time, and the time spent in each compartment to be a reflection of aversion (Belzung et al., 1987), but the
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