Rj. Rodgers et Njt. Johnson, FACTOR-ANALYSIS OF SPATIOTEMPORAL AND ETHOLOGICAL MEASURES IN THE MURINE ELEVATED PLUS-MAZE TEST OF ANXIETY, Pharmacology, biochemistry and behavior, 52(2), 1995, pp. 297-303
Recent research employing the elevated plus-maze to assess anxiety in
rodents has incorporated a variety of behavioral elements in addition
to the standard parameters of entries onto and time spent in the avers
ive open arms. In the present study, we have used a large database com
prising the behavioral profiles of 90 undrugged mice to examine the re
lationship between the standard spatiotemporal measures and a range of
specific behaviors related to the defensive repertoire of the mouse.
A factor analysis applied to the standard measures revealed two factor
s related to anxiety and locomotor activity. The simple addition of ce
nter time (an infrequently recorded measure) to the analysis yielded a
third factor, most probably related to decision making. A large-scale
factor analysis applied to all measures further confirmed the existen
ce of factors related to anxiety, locomotor activity, and decision mak
ing, and revealed three further factors thought to represent risk asse
ssment, vertical activity, and exploratory behavior. Thus, the inclusi
on of ethological measures not only confirmed prior knowledge based on
a very limited range of measures, but also demonstrated the existence
of additional behavioral dimensions. The potential applications of th
is knowledge are discussed.