Anxiogenic stimuli in the elevated plus-maze
Abstract
Untreated rats normally avoid the open arms of the "elevated plus-maze," preferring instead the closed arms, whereas rats treated with antianxiety drugs (e.g., diazepam) show far less open-arm avoidance. Although it has often been assumed that rats avoid the open arms because of novelty, height, or open space, the anxiogenic role of these stimuli in the plus-maze has not been systematically examined. In Experiment 1, rats were repeatedly exposed to the elevated plus-maze with the expectation that their "fear" of the open arms would habituate over trials. Instead, open-arm avoidance actually increased on the second trial and showed no evidence of habituating after 18 trials. In Experiment 2, three 30-min sessions of confinement to the open arms ("flooding") failed to decrease rats' open-arm avoidance. Instead, rats that had received flooding avoided the open arms significantly more than control rats during the first test. Experiment 3 showed that although diazepam-treated rats avoided the open arms less than vehicle-controls on the first test this difference dissipated across test trials. Further, diazepam had no carryover effect on rats' subsequent avoidance of the open arms in a nondrugged state. In Experiment 4, plus-maze height was varied from 50 to 6 cm, but rats did not display more open-arm activity as maze height decreased. In Experiment 5, height cues were manipulated by placing a "floor" 8 cm beneath one open arm while leaving the floor of the other open arm at 50 cm…
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Benzodiazepines have an anxiolytic effect in the plus-maze.
“It also had an anxiolytic effect in the plus-maze, another measure of sustained fear in which rats tend to avoid entering an open arm compared with a closed arm on a maze that looks like a plus (Treit et al, 1993a).”
From Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety (2010) · cites this paper as Treit et al, 1993a
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- Authors
- Treit, D., Menard, J., & Royan, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Treit, Dallas
- Venue
- Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1993-02
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 463-469
- ISSN
- 0091-3057 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2013990078
- Cited by
- 628
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 6.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- elevated plus maze, anxiety, habituation, floods, diazepam, antianxiety drugs, novelty, floor height, rats
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Animals, Anxiety, Avoidance Learning, Diazepam, Habituation, Psychophysiologic, Male, Psychology, Experimental, Psychopharmacology, Random Allocation, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
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