Anxiety Assessment in Animal Models

Anxiety in animal models is most often characterised by a suite of behavioural assays that exploit rodents’ innate conflict between exploration and self-protection. Tests such as the elevated plus maze, open-field arena and light–dark box quantify variables including time spent in exposed versus sheltered areas, locomotor activity and risk-assessment postures. These paradigms probe approach–avoidance conflict and are validated by the effects of established anxiolytic agents. Recent advances extend beyond simple time-based measures to incorporate automated detection of subtle behaviours and neural circuit manipulation, linking molecular pathways to observable anxiety-like states. Such integration of behavioural, pharmacological and neurobiological approaches enhances both the reproducibility of findings and their translational relevance to human anxiety disorders.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Automated quantification of risk assessment has been refined through machine-vision tools that detect and analyse stretch-attend posture with greater objectivity and throughput. This approach has been validated in classic anxiety assays, demonstrating parity with expert observers while eliminating observer bias and fatigue. By integrating automated posture detection with standard open-field and elevated maze protocols, researchers can now obtain high-resolution, reproducible metrics of anxiety-related behaviour, accelerating preclinical screening of anxiolytic compounds and mechanistic studies of neural circuits.

Anxiety Assessment in Animal Models publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in anxiety assessment in animal models across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Approach–avoidance conflict: Internal tension in rodents between exploring a novel environment and avoiding perceived threat, central to many anxiety assays.

Elevated plus maze: A raised, plus-shaped platform with open and closed arms used to assess anxiety-like behaviour based on arm-entry ratios and time spent in exposed areas.

Open-field test: An enclosed arena used to measure locomotion, centre-versus-periphery preference and thigmotaxis as indices of anxiety and exploratory drive.

Stretch-attend posture: A risk-assessment behaviour in which a rodent stretches forward while keeping the hindquarters in place, indicative of cautious exploration.

cAMP signalling: Intracellular second-messenger cascade involving cyclic adenosine monophosphate that modulates neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity.

Anxiolytic: A pharmacological agent or intervention that reduces anxiety-like behaviour in animal models or clinical settings.

References

1. Pde4b-regulated cAMP signaling pathway in the AUDGABA-S1TrSst circuit underlies acute-stress-induced anxiety-like behavior. Cell Reports (2025).
2. Stress-Easing Effect of Diacyl Glyceryl Ethers on Anxiety-Related Behavior in Mice. Foods (2024).
3. To Approach or Avoid: An Introductory Overview of the Study of Anxiety Using Rodent Assays. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (2020).
4. MATSAP: An automated analysis of stretch-attend posture in rodent behavioral experiments. Scientific Reports (2016).
5. Reliability of common mouse behavioural tests of anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of anxiolytics. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2022).