Hello,
In a study we perform, risk-assessment is a central behavior.
Our available mazes are the Open Field, Dark Light test and Elavated Plus Maze.
So far we perfromed protected and unprotected stretch attends (frequencies) in both the EPM and OF, as well as relative time spent in protected areas in the EPM. (Protected in the OF will be close to the border and in the EPM, the center and an entry zone of the open arms).
I want to measure additional behaviors that may adress risk-assment in these mazes. I am having a hard time finding additional options in the litrature.
We measured protected and unprotected head dips in the EPM, and saw the same results as we have in the risk-assessment data in the EPM. Superficialy, head dips seem to be exploratory and may be considered involved with assessing risk of the elevated open arm. However I haven't found any paper stating head dips are infact risk-assesment behavior.
I'd appriciate your opinion on Head dips, or any other options to measure risk assessment in the mentioned mazes.
Thank you very much.
Dear Oded, it depends on the context. In a non threatful environment head dipping (or head poking) is an exploratory behaviour. But if a potential threat is present, it becomes a risk assessment behaviour.
Hi Oded.
I often see conflicting results from the the EPM, and the light dark test can often produce negative data. One test you could add that may be very useful is the elevated platform test, where you can use an inverted mouse cage inside a clean rat cage to assess how long it takes for animals to descend. You can modify the height with bedding levels to modulate responses as needed, and this test typically generates robust levels of stretch attend behavior associated with the risk of descending from the platform.