THE RELATION BETWEEN SKIN-CONDUCTANCE LEVEL AND PLUS-MAZE BEHAVIOR INMALE-MICE

The present study examined the correlation between anxiety scores and skin conductance level in 29 male Swiss Albino mice. Skin conductance (SC) was recorded with the SC unit and IBM-AT computer. Anxiety scores of mice were obtained from the elevated plus-maze test. The main resu lt of the present study indicates that SC levels (SCLs) are negatively correlated with plus-maze behavior scores (both entries and time spen t on the open arms). Our results are consistent with the findings whic h suggests that the higher the anxiety level the higher the SCL. This study further demonstrates the utility of SCL as a measurement for ide ntifying anxiety in mouse. The interrelation between SCLs and plus-maz e scores and possible explanations of the results are discussed. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science Inc.