Marble Burrying Test

Mice with ocd like symptoms tend to engage in a high degree of repetitive behaviors including digging.

Marble burrying test.

Mice which are placed individually in a cage bury glass marbles that are present in the cage. Some strains show decreased burying behaviour. The marble burying test takes advantage of the proclivity of mice to dig in natural settings e g. In the present investigation the mb test was applied as previously described broekkamp et al 1986 with respect to the setup for a one zone paradigm with slight modifications.

Burrows escape tunnels and in standard cage bedding and the nestlet shred test capitalizes on the fact that mice are nesting animals by nature that build nests for protection of themselves and their offspring against environmental conditions e. When mice are placed in a novel cage a common response is to show increased digging behavior. This test has some predictive value for anti depressant and or anxiolytic drugs. This can be counteracted by coating marbles with substances such as tabasco sauce which will.

An increasing number of investigators utilize the marble burying assay despite the paucity of information available regarding what underlies the behavior. The marble burying test measures one acute dose of anti anxiety agent for thirty minutes. The marble burying behavior test is an acute test. However some investigators incorporate the sub acute treatment regimen as an essential component for screening anti compulsive agents.

The test exhibits between laboratory methodological differences and demonstrates positive treatment responses to an array of pharmacotherapies creating doubts. When put in a cage with marbles mice with ocd like symptoms tend to engage in a high degree of repetitive behaviors including digging while mice with a high degree of anxiety tend to engage in a high degree of digging in. The marble burying task can be used both as an indicator of obsessive compulsive like ocd behavior and or anxiety like behavior. Marble burying as an anxiety model in conclusion although marble burying was reduced by doses of diazepam and zimeldine which did not affect activity in a locomotor test we have not been able to find other evidence that marble burying models anxiety either from its behavioral characteristics or from the actions of anxiogenic agents.

The marble burying test is a useful model of both obsessive compulsive like ocd behavior and or anxiety like behavior. There is also a genetic component to this test. It has been shown to be sensitive to benzodiazepines as these compounds reduce burying behaviour when. It can be weeks before a noticeable change is observed in patients.

Since findings reported in the literature indicate that marble burying behavior.