title: Posture and balance responses to a sensory challenge are related to anxiety in mice.
abstract: Anxiety disorders and balance disorders share common clinical features related to perception such as spatial disorientation or dizziness. The search for the mechanism underlying this core of symptoms led us to investigate impairments in multisensory integration. In mice, the 'rotating beam test' allows analysis of changes in balance control and posture in response to a multisensory challenge. We used the BALB/c and C57BL/6 inbred strains of mice, known for their contrasted anxiety-related behavior. The level of anxiety was also manipulated using anxiolytic and anxiogenic pharmacological compounds. Despite equal sensori-motor abilities, anxious mice were more prone to fall off the rotating beam and showed more imbalance than non-anxious mice. Striking inter-strain differences in posture were also observed. Diazepam and beta-CCM reversed these strain-specific responses in opposite directions. We demonstrated that balance and postural strategies developed in response to a multisensory challenge vary as a function of the level of anxiety in mice.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 7593 'Vulnérabilité, Adaptation et Psychopathologie', CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière, 91, bd de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. e.lepicard@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Eve M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Lepicard
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Venault
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Negroni
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perez-Diaz
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Joubert
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nosten-Bertrand
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berthoz
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chapouthier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D004856:Postural Balance; D011187:Posture; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D003975:Diazepam