Previous exposure of mice to open field does not interfere in the results of elevated plus maze

ABSTRACT

With the growth of research on experimental models, the concern about animal welfare has been increasing. It has been suggested that every effort should be made to avoid excessive waste and sacrifice of animals. The aim of this study was to determine whether prior exposure to open field (OF) could affect the parameters measured in elevated plus maze (EPM), in order to assess whether the same group of mice could be used in both tests, without producing any bias and avoiding the waste of animals. The results of our study suggest that animals previously exposed to the OF can be retested in the EPM, and since anxiety levels as measured in the EPM was not higher in animals previously exposed to OF, in our sample exposure to the OF did not induce anxiety behavior in the animals.