An overview of the currency and usefulness of behavioral tests used from past to present to assess anxiety, social behavior and depression in rats and mice

Abstract

Various tests have been developed to evaluate behavior in animal studies where rodents are used as animal models. These tests are useful for understanding the pathophysiology of many neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, autism spectrum disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder and examining potential treatments for these disorders. The use of behavioral tests is becoming popular day by day, and studies to improve and develop these tests are still ongoing. It is very important to select the appropriate test, consider the factors that may affect the experimental design, and use different tests that will support each other when necessary. In this review, we aimed to provide researchers an overview of the currency, usefulness, and frequency of use of various behavioral tests used from past to present in the evaluation of anxiety-like behavior, depression-like behavior, and social behavior in rodents.

Keywords: Animal models; Anxiety; Behavior; Depression; Rodents; Social behavior.