Abstract
The stretched attend posture (SAP) in the mouse is an investigatory forward elongation of the body in a novel environment. In a previous study, the anxiolytics diazepam, clobazam, and phenobarbital reduced SAP, and low doses of the non-anxiolytics imipramine and chlorpromazine were ineffective, results which prompted the investigator to propose the SAP test as a screening method for anxiolytics. However, diazepam and clobazam also increased immobility. In the present study, the anxiolytics chlordiazepoxide, pentobarbital, and buspirone and behaviorally active doses of the non-anxiolytics chlorpromazine and morphine reduced SAP and tended to increase immobility. We concluded that therapeutic-class specificity has not been demonstrated for the SAP test.
References
Grant EC, Mackintosh JH (1963) A comparison of the social postures of some common laboratory rodents. Behaviour 21:246–259
Kaesermann HP (1986) Stretched attend posture, a non-social form of ambivalence, is sensitive to a conflict-reducing action. Psychopharmacology 89:31–37
Mason P, Skinner J, Luttinger D (1987) Two tests in rats for antianxiety effect of clinically anxiety attentuating antidepressants. Psychopharmacology 92:30–34
Pollard GT, Howard JL (1986a) The staircase test: Some evidence of nonspecificity for anxiolytics. Psychopharmacology 89:14–19
Pollard GT, Howard JL (1986b) Similar effects of antidepressant and non-antidepressant drugs on behavior under an interresponse-time >72-sec schedule. Psychopharmacology 89:253–258
Simiand J, Keane PE, Morre M (1984) The staircase test in mice: A simple and efficient procedure for primary screening of anxiolytic agents. Psychopharmacology 84:48–53
Van der Poel AM (1967) Ethological study of the behaviour of the albino rat in a “passive-avoidance” test. Acta Physiol Pharmacol Neerl 14:503–504
Van der Poel AM (1979) A note on “stretched attention”, a behavioural element indicative of an approach-avoidance conflict in rats. Anim Behav 27:446–450
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pollard, G.T., Howard, J.L. Effects of chlordiazepoxide, pentobarbital, buspirone, chlorpromazine, and morphine in the stretched attend posture (SAP) test. Psychopharmacology 94, 433–434 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00174704
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00174704