Using the Elevated Plus Maze as a Bioassay to Assess the Effects of Naturally Occurring and Exogenou

To assess a construct, such as anxiety, and to determine potential neurobiological underpinnings of this construct, it is often necessary to utilize an animal model. For example, the elevated plus maze is a widely used behavioral assay that has been validated to assess the anxiety-related behavior of rodents. There is great value in using a whole systems approach to assess the many potential targets for a complex disorder, such as anxiety. The elevated plus maze produces reliable results, can be fully automated, is easy and economical to use, and valid results are obtained in a single 5-minute testing session. Briefly, mice are placed at the intersection of the four arms of the maze (two open, two closed), facing an open arm. The number of entries and time spent in each arm is recorded. An increase in the open-arm time is an index of anti-anxiety behavior of mice. Importantly, the patterns of effects that we have observed investigating the role of steroids for effects on anxiety-related behavior has been replicable across cohorts, experiments, species, laboratories, and other anxiety models. Thus, the elevated plus maze is an indispensable tool for investigating the neurobiological substrates of anxiety disorders, using murine models.