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. 2016 Mar 8;4(2):e00223. doi: 10.1002/prp2.223

Table 1.

Sample data from various research reports illustrating the consistency between results and concordances between elevated plus‐maze (EPM) test parameters in the study of mouse strain differences

Strains OA EA Total DIFF POAE POAT OAAI References
C57BL/6JOla 12.0 2.8 14.8 −9.2 81 61 29 Mathiasen et al. 2008 (T2)
BALB/cByJ 17.0 8.0 25.0 −9.0 68 90 21 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
BALBc/J 6.4 1.6 8.0 −4.8 80 69 26 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
C57BL/6JOla 10.0 5.3 15.3 −4.7 65 46 44 Mathiasen et al. 2008 (T1)
C3H/HeN 10.4 6.6 17.0 −3.7 61 52 44 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
CBA/J 9.6 6.4 16.0 −3.2 60 58 41 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
C3H/HeJ 8.4 5.6 14.0 −2.8 60 69 36 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
NMRI 8.7 6.3 15.0 −2.4 58 37 53 Griebel et al. 2000
NMRI 8.3 6.9 15.2 −1.4 55 40 53 Mathiasen et al. 2008 (T2)
NMRI 9.2 9.3 18.6 0.1 49 38 56 Mathiasen et al. 2008 (T1)
C3H/HeJ 1.5 2.5 4.0 1.0 37 29 67 Griebel et al. 2000
C3H/HeJ 1.5 3.0 4.5 1.5 33 13 77 Yilmazer–Hanke et al. 2003
SJL/J 8.7 10.3 19.0 1.5 46 23 66 Griebel et al. 2000
C57BL/6J 3.5 5.5 9.0 2.0 39 1 80 Yilmazer–Hanke et al. 2003
CBA/J 2.6 5.4 8.0 2.9 32 28 70 Griebel et al. 2000
BALB/cByJ 3.6 7.4 11.0 3.7 33 15 76 Griebel et al. 2000
DBA/2Ola 7.3 11.6 18.9 4.3 39 43 59 Mathiasen et al. 2008 (T1)
BALB/cJ 6.5 11.0 17.0 4.5 38 21 70 Yilmazer–Hanke et al. 2003
A/J 3.0 8.0 11.0 5.1 27 65 54 O'Leary et al. 2013
DBA 2.4 7.6 10.0 5.2 24 11 83 Griebel et al. 2000
DBA/2Ola 4.9 10.3 15.2 5.4 32 66 51 Mathiasen et al. 2008 (T2)
BALBc/J 7.8 13.2 21.0 5.5 37 21 71 O'Leary et al. 2013
DBA/2J 2.8 8.3 11.0 5.5 25 62 57 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
NMRI 6.0 11.5 17.5 5.5 34 34 66 Yilmazer–Hanke et al. 2003
BALB/cByJ 8.1 13.9 22.0 5.7 37 41 61 O'Leary et al. 2013
C3H/HeJ 8.8 16.3 25.0 7.5 35 42 62 O'Leary et al. 2013
A/J 0.2 7.8 8.0 7.7 2 27 86 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
C57BL/6J 3.5 11.6 15.0 8.1 23 37 70 Griebel et al. 2000
C57BL/6ByJ 2.2 10.8 13.0 8.6 17 34 75 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
DBA/2J 2.5 13.5 16.0 11.0 16 36 74 Yilmazer–Hanke et al. 2003
C57BL/6J 0.8 13.2 14.0 12.3 6 35 80 Trullas and Skolnick 1993
129S1/SvImJ 6.3 18.8 25.0 12.5 25 5 85 O'Leary et al. 2013
C57BL/6J 7.2 22.8 30.0 15.6 24 19 79 O'Leary et al. 2013
SJL/J 11.3 27.7 39.0 16.4 29 35 68 O'Leary et al. 2013
DBA/2J 7.7 24.3 32.0 16.6 24 6 85 O'Leary et al. 2013
AKR 5.8 23.2 29.0 17.4 20 36 72 O'Leary et al. 2013
FVB/NJ 9.8 31.2 41.0 21.3 24 15 81 O'Leary et al. 2013
BTBR 7.4 29.6 37.0 22.2 20 46 67 O'Leary et al. 2013

The above data were mostly estimated from average group values of available test parameters in tables or graphs. They are presented in the order of the difference (DIFF) between open arm (OA) and enclosed arms (EA) entries. Negative values indicate a preference for open arms. T1 and T2 in Mathiasen et al. 2008 refer to Table 1 and table 2, respectively. The above data sample demonstrates lack of concordance between the EPM test parameters. It also demonstrates that the same strain of mice can be low anxiety in one study and high anxiety in another one. Note also that, in most research reports, the POAE and POAT are below 50%.

OA, open arm entries; EA, enclosed arm entries; Total, OA + EA; DIFF, EA‐OA; POAE, percent open arm entries; POAT, percent open arm time; OAAI, open arm avoidance index.