Effects of age on open-field behavior of male rats. 1994

Y I Peng, and S H Lin, and T J Chen, and M Y Tai, and Y F Tsai
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China.

As age advances, the performance of animal behavior declines gradually. The purpose of this study was to investigate the onset of age-related changes in open-field behavior of rats from a wide age spectrum. Male Long-Evans rats, ranging from 2 to 22 months, were placed in an open-field apparatus during the dark phase for a cumulative period of 28 min. Data were collected for the following parameters of open-field behavior: horizontal activity (HA), total distance (TD), stereotypy count (SC), vertical activity (VA), movement time (MT) and margin time (MGT). The highest value of HA, TD, SC and MT was found in rats at the age of 3 months. After 3 months, the values for these parameters gradually declined, subsequently reaching statistical significance by 6 months (HA, TD and SC) or 8.5 months (MT) of age. Maximum activity of VA occurred at 8.5 months of age and thereafter gradually declined with increasing age, however, no significantly statistical difference was reached as compared to the highest value. In contrast, the values for MGT gradually declined after 2 months of age, thereby reaching statistical significance by 11 months of age. These results indicate that the onset of age-related decline in open-field behavioral parameters can differ and the age-related changes in open-field behavior depends on observational parameters.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009043 Motor Activity Body movements of a human or an animal as a behavioral phenomenon. Activities, Motor,Activity, Motor,Motor Activities
D005106 Exploratory Behavior The tendency to explore or investigate a novel environment. It is considered a motivation not clearly distinguishable from curiosity. Curiosity,Novelty-Seeking Behavior,Behavior, Exploratory,Behavior, Novelty-Seeking,Behaviors, Exploratory,Behaviors, Novelty-Seeking,Curiosities,Exploratory Behaviors,Novelty Seeking Behavior,Novelty-Seeking Behaviors
D000367 Age Factors Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time. Age Reporting,Age Factor,Factor, Age,Factors, Age
D000375 Aging The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time. Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001522 Behavior, Animal The observable response an animal makes to any situation. Autotomy Animal,Animal Behavior,Animal Behaviors
D012737 Sex Factors Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from SEX CHARACTERISTICS, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from SEX DISTRIBUTION, the number of males and females in given circumstances. Factor, Sex,Factors, Sex,Sex Factor
D013239 Stereotyped Behavior Relatively invariant mode of behavior elicited or determined by a particular situation; may be verbal, postural, or expressive. Behavior, Stereotyped,Behaviors, Stereotyped,Stereotyped Behaviors
D051381 Rats The common name for the genus Rattus. Rattus,Rats, Laboratory,Rats, Norway,Rattus norvegicus,Laboratory Rat,Laboratory Rats,Norway Rat,Norway Rats,Rat,Rat, Laboratory,Rat, Norway,norvegicus, Rattus

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