Evaluation of marble-burying behavior as a model of anxiety
Abstract
On individual placement in a cage with 20 evenly spaced glass marbles, female MF1 mice buried 7.8 +/- 0.2 marbles. Olfactory stimuli from experimenters hands and sex of mice had no influence on number buried, but most marbles were buried when they were evenly spaced. There was no habituation to these novel objects on serial testing or prehousing with marbles and, in a two-compartment box, mice did not avoid marbles, spending half their time on the marble side. In the pharmacological experiments, locomotor activity was measured separately to indicate the possibility of nonspecific effects. The anxiogenic agents yohimbine and ethyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate (beta-CCE) did not enhance burying, yohimbine decreased burying at doses also reducing locomotor activity. Diazepam effects depended on dose: 0.1 mg/kg increased burying, 0.25 mg/kg had no effect and 1.0-5.0 mg/kg reduced it. Diazepam increased locomotor activity from 0.1-2.5 mg/kg and had no effect at 5.0 mg/kg. Zimeldine, 10.0 mg/kg, reduced burying but not locomotor activity. Inhibition of marble burying may be a correlational model for detection of anxiolytics rather than an isomorphic model of anxiety.
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Quantification of marble-burying has been proposed as a measure of repetitive digging behavior and/or anxiety relevant behaviors in rodents.
“Quantification of marble-burying has been proposed as a measure of repetitive digging behavior and/or anxiety relevant behaviors in rodents [84–86].”
From Behavioral Phenotyping of Juvenile Long-Evans and Sprague-Dawley Rats: Implications for Preclinical Models of Autism Spectrum Disorders (2016) · cites this paper as [86]
Rodents will bury an electrified probe after having received shocks from the probe and will spontaneously bury marbles introduced as a novelty into their home cages.
“Rodents will bury an electrified probe after having received shocks from the probe43 and will even spontaneously bury marbles introduced as a novelty into their home cages44.”
From Resolving the neural circuits of anxiety (2015) · cites this paper as [44]
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- Authors
- Njung'e, K., & Handley, S. L.
- Affiliations
- Aston University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Handley, Sheila L.
- Venue
- Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1991-01
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 63-67
- ISSN
- 0091-3057 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2053714798
- Cited by
- 487
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 0.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Janssen Pharmaceuticals
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- marble-burying behavior, anxiety models, yohimbine, diazepam, zimeldine, locomotor activity, female mice
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Anxiety, Carbolines, Diazepam, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Evaluation Studies as Topic, Female, Habituation, Psychophysiologic, Male, Mice, Inbred Strains, Models, Psychological, Sex Factors, Yohimbine, Mice
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