Chemical exposures and animal activity: utility of the figure-eight maze.
In 1975, Norton and coworkers (11) described a figure-eight maze system for measuring motor activity in rodents. Since their original report, a number of studies have appeared in the literature which have utilized the figure-eight maze to evaluate the behavioral toxicity of a variety of chemical and physical agents (Table 1). The present paper describes a number of salient features of the maze which have emerged from these studies which support its continued use in toxicological studies. These features are described in the context of EPA's Test Guidelines for motor activity (4).
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000633:toxicity; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000633:toxicity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D014298:Trimethyltin Compounds / Q000633:toxicity
D014298:Trimethyltin Compounds; D003913:Dextroamphetamine; D002746:Chlorpromazine