title: The effect of cage shelf on the behaviour of male C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice in the elevated plus maze test.
abstract: The effect of environmental enrichment in the form of a cage shelf on the behaviour of male C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice was compared. Male C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice were randomly allocated into 12 cages per strain. The mice were kept in control conditions or exposed to a cage shelf for two, four, six or eight weeks, and thereafter assessed with the elevated plus maze. C57BL/6 mice displayed a trend of being less anxious than the BALB/c mice. A cage shelf increased the number of entries made into the open arms and the total number of entries only in the case of the C57BL/6 mice, but had no effect on the behaviour of the BALB/c mice. In conclusion, the effect of a cage shelf on the elevated plus maze behaviour of mice depends on the strain of the animals.
authors.affiliation: Vivarium, Tartu University, 50090 Tartu, Estonia. kai.okva@ut.ee
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Õkva
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nevalainen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pokk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C / Q000502:physiology*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: cage furniture; elevated plus maze; environmental enrichment; mice; refinement