Is open field maze suitable for mobility assessment? And does multiple measurements affect the accuracy?
I conducted daily measurements and found the intervention cause a decline of total distance within the first 6 days. Can I trust the results?
Dear Shuwei Bai
The open field maze is suitable to assess various behaviors including general assessment of locomotion and associated factors such as emotion.
However, the protocol design should be tailored to the aim of study.
Generally, each test subject (E.g. mouse) may be tested once for a specific period or session (E.g. 10-20 minutes) so that the sample size or number of independent repeats is the number of mice tested (E.g. control group, 20 mice) and then do this for another group with different mice, which received an intervention of some sort (test group).
This paper might be useful: Article Use of the Open Field Maze to Measure Locomotor and Anxiety-...
If a mouse is allowed to explore the maze many times, then this may affect the results (due to habituation) and may lead to reduced mobility (or exploration).
If the control and test groups are dependent (same subjects or mice) such as a before and after treatment then you should control the test environment or design to show that the required or used number of repeat measures don't have an effect on the results.
Good Luck
Dear Shuwei Bai , repeated exposure to the same open-field arena physiologically leads to a progressive decrease of locomotor activity in healthy mice. As pointed out by Amjad Hasan Bazzari , you should employ an independent group of mice as control group, in order to take into account the habituation factor.
OFM is used to test ambulation. Probably distance decreased due to habituation. Multiple measurements will increase the accuracy as long as you control bias, such as by using randomisation and a genuine control. Yes, you can trust your results because they are the results :)
The Open Field Maze is one of the most commonly used platforms to measure behaviors in animal models. It is a fast and relatively easy test that provides a variety of behavioral information ranging from general ambulatory ability to data regarding the emotionality of the subject animal. As it relates to rodent models, the procedure allows the study of different strains of mice or rats both laboratory bred and wild-captured. The technique also readily lends itself to the investigation of different pharmacological compounds for anxiolytic or anxiogenic effects.
The following link might be helpful:
The Open Field Test | SpringerLink
Open Field Test - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics