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

• 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
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-1781(03)00069-6

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.