Posture and balance responses to a sensory challenge are related to anxiety in mice

Anxiety disorders and balance disorders share common clinical features related to perception such as spatial disorientation or dizziness. The search for the mechanism underlying this core of symptoms led us to investigate impairments in multisensory integration. In mice, the ‘rotating beam test’ all...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry research 2003-06, Vol.118 (3), p.273-284
Main Authors: Lepicard, Eve M., Venault, Patrice, Negroni, Julia, Perez-Diaz, Fernando, Joubert, Chantal, Nosten-Bertrand, Marika, Berthoz, Alain, Chapouthier, Georges
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Animal model
Animals
Anticonvulsants - pharmacology
Anticonvulsants - therapeutic use
Anxiety disorders
Anxiety Disorders - complications
Anxiety Disorders - drug therapy
Anxiety disorders. Neuroses
Balance disorders
Benzodiazepine
Biological and medical sciences
Diazepam - pharmacology
Diazepam - therapeutic use
Disease Models, Animal
Inbred strains of mice
Male
Medical sciences
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Miscellaneous
Postural Balance
Posture
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Sensation Disorders - etiology
Space life sciences
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Summary:Anxiety disorders and balance disorders share common clinical features related to perception such as spatial disorientation or dizziness. The search for the mechanism underlying this core of symptoms led us to investigate impairments in multisensory integration. In mice, the ‘rotating beam test’ allows analysis of changes in balance control and posture in response to a multisensory challenge. We used the BALB/c and C57BL/6 inbred strains of mice, known for their contrasted anxiety-related behavior. The level of anxiety was also manipulated using anxiolytic and anxiogenic pharmacological compounds. Despite equal sensori-motor abilities, anxious mice were more prone to fall off the rotating beam and showed more imbalance than non-anxious mice. Striking inter-strain differences in posture were also observed. Diazepam and β-CCM reversed these strain-specific responses in opposite directions. We demonstrated that balance and postural strategies developed in response to a multisensory challenge vary as a function of the level of anxiety in mice.
ISSN:0165-1781
1872-7123
DOI:10.1016/S0165-1781(03)00069-6