Validación de dos equipos (laberinto en cruz elevado y campo claro oscuro) para evaluar la actividad ansiolítica en ratones de laboratorio.

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to validate two devices (elevated plus maze and dark/light transition box) to evaluate the anxiolytic activity on laboratory mice. To carry out the study, the equipment was mounted on a mixed stand, where the camera was placed to record videos. Later on, the videos were processed using the Itopi software which measured, though image processing, each of the parameters set to be evaluated in both devices, thus in the elevated plus maze (1) the number of entries into the open and closed arms, (2) the time that the animal remains in each of the arms, and (3) the time that the animal remains in the center of the maze were recorded. In the dark/light box (1) the number of transitions from one compartment to the other and (2) the time that the animal remained in each of the compartments were recorded. Additionally, in both devices, the software measures the distance and the mean speed that the mouse transits; and produces a heat map which shows the place(s) where the animal stayed longer. Clonazepam, as medicine, and Propylene glycol 15%, as vehicle, were used for treatment. Five observers evaluated all the videos to test the accuracy of Itopi. From the results obtained, the means were calculated for all the parameters and were compared to the software´s output data. During the statistical analysis, hypothesis tests were carried out for each parameter, probabilities greater than 0.01 were obtained for all cases, which indicates that Itopi software in both devices was valid. It is recommended to consider this study to validate low-cost equipment to be implemented in the animal facility of the Science School at ESPOCH, with the goal of improving this facility and facilitate certain processes for students and students in the thesis preparation stage.