Figure 1.

Lack of anxiolytic effect of diazepam in the elevated plus maze. (A) (Left) Cumulative number of entries in the open arms along the 10-min session. (Middle and right) Mean (± SD) number of open arm entries after 5 (middle) and 10 min (right). White circles show data for individual animals. Animals were injected i.p. with vehicle or three doses of diazepam (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg) thirty minutes prior to behavior testing, as labeled. (B–D) Panels show the same as in (A), but for the percentage of the time spent in the open arms (B), and the total time animals spent moving (C) or in stretch-attend posture (D). No anxiolytic effect of diazepam is found in any of the doses, as inferred by no increase in the metrics shown in (A) and (B) (on the contrary, the highest diazepam dose decreased open arm exploration). Notice further that diazepam induces both a reduction in locomotor activity (C) and risk assessment behaviors (D). **p < 0.001, ***p < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test.