Maturational and gender differences in rodent escape strategies: Possible implications for preclinical models of anxiety

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This study profiles two clearly dissociable escape strategies (jumping and backing off) in a newly established preclinical model of extreme anxiety (i.e., the unstable elevated plus maze) and examines the contribution of ontogeny and gender to the behavioral profiles exhibited. Clear age-related differences in escape behavior were found: Although the younger animals exhibited all the preparatory behaviors appropriate to flight from the apparatus—that is, attempting to back off, backtracking, preparing to jump, turning, and scanning—the older animals more readily translated these into actual escape. There were no significant sex-related differences in escape rates or in three of the escape-related behaviors— that is, backtracking, attempting to back off, and preparing to jump. Clear dissimilarities were, however, found in a number of other escape-linked behaviors: Females scanned, end-reached, and turned more than males. These results indicate that ontogeny and gender significantly contribute to the behaviors exhibited in aversive situations and might explain at least some of the inconsistent results frequently obtained in preclinical models of anxiety.