The Open Field Test for Measuring Locomotor Activity and Anxiety-Like Behavior

  • Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1916:99-103. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_9.
Ann-Katrin Kraeuter  1  2 ,  Paul C Guest  3 ,  Zoltán Sarnyai  4  5
Affiliations
  • 1. Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
  • 2. Discipline of Biomedicine, College of Public Health, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
  • 3. Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
  • 4. Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. [email protected].
  • 5. Discipline of Biomedicine, College of Public Health, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. [email protected].
PMID: 30535687 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_9
Abstract

The open field test is used in studies of the neurobiological basis of anxiety and screening for novel drug targets and anxiolytic compounds. This test uses a camera to measure movement of the test animal in the peripheral and central zones of a 42 × 42 × 42 cm polyvinyl chloride box. This chapter describes a protocol for carrying out the open-field test for assessment of locomotion and anxiety-like behavior in mice.

Keywords
Anxiety; Behavior; Locomotion; Open-filed; Psychiatric disorder.