ANXIOLYSIS BY ETHANOL, DIAZEPAM AND BUSPIRONE IN A NOVEL MURINE BEHAVIORAL ASSAY

THIS study extends the pharmacological characterization of a novel qua ntitative murine behavioral method, the mirrored chamber aversion assa y, which appears to be selectively sensitive to anxiolytic agents. Beh avioral effects of acute diazepam administration were compared with th ose of the 5-HT1A anxiolytic buspirone and those of ethanol in C57BL/6 J mice. These known anxiolytics produced a dose-dependent reduction in avoidance behavior of large magnitude, as evidenced by statistically significant decreases in latency to enter and increases in time spent in the mirrored chamber. Anxiolytic-like effects of these compounds in the mirrored chamber assay differed from those observed by the elevat ed plus-maze method. The behavioral effects of the test compounds were not due to alteration of locomotor activity. These findings indicate that the murine mirrored chamber assay responds to several agents know n to be anxiolytic in man but differs from the plus-maze in the pharma cological spectrum of the anxiolytics to which it is sensitive.