Marble Burying Test Interpretation

It has been shown to be sensitive to benzodiazepines as these compounds reduce burying behaviour when.

Marble burying test interpretation.

While widely used there is significant controversy over the interpretation of its results. The marble burying test is commonly used to quantify anxiety obsessive compulsive or repetitive behaviour in rodents 1 3 performance on the marble burying test is also associated with general digging behaviour 4 7 and so the underlying construct being measured is still unclear regardless the typical protocol places 10 25 marbles in a cage containing sawdust or similar. Marble burying is an animal model used in scientific research to depict anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder ocd behavior. Marble burying the marble burying test is a useful model of neophobia 1 anxiety 1 7 and obsessive compulsive behavior 8 11.

There is also a genetic component to. The marble burying test is used to record the number of marbles buried by mice placed in a novel environment. It can be weeks before a noticeable change is observed in patients. Rodent marble burying behavior in the marble burying test mbt is employed as a model or measure to study anxiety and compulsive like behaviors or anxiolytic and anticompulsive drug action.

It is based on the observation that rats and mice will bury either harmful or harmless objects in their bedding. Mice with ocd like symptoms tend to engage in a high degree of repetitive behaviors including digging. When mice are placed in a novel cage a common response is to show increased digging behavior. Mice which are placed individually in a cage bury glass marbles that are present in the cage.

The marble burying test measures one acute dose of anti anxiety agent for thirty minutes. The marble burying test has been tested for the effects of the novelty of marbles by exposing animals to them in the home cage or administering the test repeatedly and neither has a pronounced effect on burying behaviour thomas et al 2009 njung e and handley 1991b homma and yamada 2009. The marble burying test is commonly used to quantify anxiety obsessive compulsive or repetitive behaviour in rodents 1 3 performance on the marble burying test is also associated with general digging behaviour 4 7 and so the underlying construct being measured is still unclear regardless the typical protocol places 10 25 marbles in a cage containing sawdust or similar material. This test has some predictive value for anti depressant and or anxiolytic drugs.

However the test responds variably to a range of pharmacological interventions and little consensus exists regarding specific methodologies for its execution. The marble burying task can be used both as an indicator of obsessive compulsive like ocd behavior and or anxiety like behavior. It has also been proposed that the test may have predictive validity for the screening of novel antidepressants 12 15 anxiolytics 15 16 and antipsychotics 17 19.