title: Influence of procedural variables on rat inhibitory avoidance and escape behaviors generated by the elevated T-maze.
abstract: A wealth of evidence indicates that changes in procedural parameters and/or environmental conditions may exert a remarkable influence on the basal expression of defensive behaviors in different animal tests of anxiety. The goal of the current study was to further investigate the influence of procedural factors upon inhibitory avoidance acquisition and escape expression of male Wistar rats exposed to the elevated T-maze. These responses have been related in terms of psychopathology to generalized anxiety and panic disorders, respectively. Our results showed that the expression of these behaviors is not affected by prior handling of the animals or by increasing the illumination level of the experimental room from 60 to 580lx. They also showed that enhancing the number of avoidance trials from 3 to 6 favors the acquisition of this behavior. Under this condition, both diazepam (2mg/kg) and clonazepam (1-4mg/kg) caused anxiolytic effects, but only the latter benzodiazepine impaired escape expression, a panicolytic-like effect. In animals exposed to the elevated T-maze whole apparatus 24h before the test, the anxiolytic effect of these drugs was canceled out, which is consistent with the one-trial tolerance phenomenon widely observed in the elevated plus-maze. This procedure, however, does not interfere with the anti-escape effect caused by clonazepam. These results suggest that a 6-trial avoidance learning protocol may be a useful measure for compensating possible individual differences in the acquisition of this defensive response and to improve drug detection in the test.
authors: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors: Roger L H
authors: RL
authors: Pobbe
authors: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors: Marcel A
authors: MA
authors: Lopes
authors: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors: Alex T
authors: AT
authors: Vasconcelos
authors: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors: Paula S M
authors: PS
authors: Yamashita
authors: Department of Health Sciences, Federal University of Espírito Santo, CEUNES-UFES, São Mateus, ES, Brazil.
authors: Valquíria C
authors: VC
authors: de Bortoli
authors: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: zangross@fmrp.usp.br.
authors: Hélio
authors: H
authors: Zangrossi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D002998:Clonazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000187:drug effects; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D002998:Clonazepam; D003975:Diazepam
keywords: Anxiety; Elevated T-maze; Procedural factor