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Culture Media

Culture Media: Classification, Types, and Relevance

What Is Culture Media?

Culture media are mediums that provide essential nutrients and minerals to support the growth of microorganisms in the laboratory.

Microorganisms have varying nature, characteristics, habitat, and even nutritional requirements, thus it is impossible to culture them with one type of culture media. However, there are also microorganisms that can’t grow on a culture media at all in any condition – these are called obligate parasites.[1]

Culturing microorganisms is essential for diagnosing infectious diseases, obtaining antigens, developing serological assays for vaccines, genetic studies, and identification of microbial species.[1]

Furthermore, it’s also essential for isolating pure cultures, storing culture stock, studying biochemical reactions, testing microbial contamination, checking antimicrobial agents and preservatives effect, testing viable count, and testing antibiotic sensitivity.[2]

This article will focus on the composition, classification, and types of culture media used in microbiology labs to study a spectrum of microbial forms.

Classification and Types of Culture Media

Growing microorganisms in the lab involve mimicking the organisms’ natural habitat or environment, and this is possible in the laboratory by formulating culture media that meets their requirements. Therefore, many culture media were developed by scientists according to the microbial species to be cultured.

The basic media contains a source of carbon & energy, nitrogen source, growth factors, and some trace elements.[1] Some commonly used media components include peptone, agar, water, casein hydrolysate, malt extract, meat extract, and yeast extract. In addition, the pH of the medium should be set accordingly.[3]

However, some additional components or nutrients are added to the media when growing specific microorganisms.

Culture media can be classified in three ways: based on their consistency, nutritional component, and applications.[1]

A. Classification of culture media based on consistency

  1. Solid media: In these media, the agar which is an unbranched long chain of polysaccharides is added in the concentration of 1.5-2.0%. Most commonly, 1.3% agar is used to prepare solid media in labs. The agar-containing media solidifies at 37 ºC.[1] Sometimes, in the place of agar, some other inert solidifying agents are used, such as gellan gum.
    Solid media are used to grow microorganisms in their full physical form, prepare bacterial pure cultures, or isolate bacteria to study colony characteristics.[1] The bacterial growth on solid media varies in appearance as mucoid, round, smooth, rough, filamentous, irregular, and punctiform. The media is not hydrolyzed by microorganisms and is free from growth-inhibiting substances.[3] Examples of solid media are blood agar, nutrient agar, McConkey agar, and chocolate agar.
  2. Semisolid media: This media has 0.2-0.5% agar concentration, and due to the reduced agar concentration, it appears as a soft, jelly-like substance. It’s mainly used to study the motility of microorganisms, distinguish between motile and non-motile bacterial strains (through U-tube and Cragie’s tube), and cultivate microaerophilic bacteria – bacteria on this media appear as a thick line. Examples of semi-solid media are: Hugh and Leifson’s oxidation fermentation medium, Stuart’s and Amies media, and Mannitol motility media.[1]
  3. Liquid media: These media do not contain any traces of solidifying agents, such as agar or gelatin, and large growth of bacterial colonies can be observed in the media. Liquid media are also called broths, they allow for uniform and turbid growth of bacterial strains when incubated at 37ºC for 24hrs. The media is used for the profuse growth of microorganisms and fermentation studies. Examples include Tryptic soy broth, phenol red carbohydrate broth, MR-VP broth, and nutrient broth.

Other than these, there are also biphasic media, which consist of both solid and liquid media. And sometimes in the place of agar, egg yolk and serum are added to the media as a solidifying agent.[3] Learn more on how to make agar plates here.

While naturally, these substances are liquid, they are solidified by using heat, and the prepared media is sterilized using the inspissation technique. Examples are Lowenstein Jensen medium and Dorset egg medium, which contain egg yolk, and Loeffler’s serum slope, which contain serum.[3]

B. Classification based on the nutritional component

  1. Simple media: It’s a general-purpose media that supports the growth of non-fastidious microbes, and it is primarily used for the isolation of microorganisms. Examples are nutrient broth, peptone water, and nutrient agar.
  2. Complex media: These are media containing nutrients in unknown quantities that are added to bring about a particular characteristic of a microbial strain. Examples are tryptic soy broth, blood agar, and nutrient broth.
  3. Synthetic media: Synthetic media is a type of chemically defined media and is produced from pure chemical substances. A defined media refers to a medium having a known concentration of ingredients, like sugar (glucose or glycerol) and nitrogen source (such as ammonium salt or nitrate as inorganic nitrogen). It is generally used in scientific research, and an example is Czapek Dox Medium.[1]

C. Classification of culture media based on application/chemical composition

  • Basal media: These are routinely used simple media having carbon and nitrogen sources that boost the growth of many microorganisms. They are also known as general-purpose media and are considered non-selective media.

    The basal media do not require enrichment sources for the growth of non-fastidious bacteria and are suitable for growing Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae.[1]

    They are generally used to isolate microorganisms in labs or in sub-culturing processes. Examples are nutrient broth, nutrient agar, and peptone water.

  • Enriched media: This media is prepared by adding additional substances like blood, serum, or egg yolk in the basal medium. It’s used to grow fastidious microorganisms as they require additional nutrients and growth-promoting substances.

    Examples are chocolate agar, blood agar, and Loeffler’s serum slope. Chocolate media is used to grow N. gonorrhea while blood agar (which is prepared by adding 5-10% blood by volume to a blood agar base) is used to identify hemolytic bacteria.[2]
  • Selective media: This media allows the growth of certain microbes while inhibiting the growth of others. It’s an agar-based medium that is used to isolate microorganisms in labs.

    The selective growth of microbes is decided by adding substances like antibiotics, dyes, bile salts, or by pH adjustments.

    Below is a list of common selective media and the bacteria they’re used to culture:[2]

S. No Culture media Inhibiting substances Bacteria
1
Thayer Martin Agar
Contains antibiotics; vancomycin, colistin, and nystatin
Used for Neisseria gonorrhoeae
2
MacConkey’s Agar
Contains bile salts
Used for Enterobacteriaceae members
3
Lowenstein Jensen Medium
Addition of malachite green
Used for M.tuberculosis
4
Mannitol Salt Agar
Contains 10% NaCl
Used to recover S.aureus
5
Crystal Violet Blood Agar
Contains 0.0002% crystal violet
Used for Streptococcus pyogenes
6
Thiosulfate citrate bile salts sucrose (TCBS) agar
Have elevated pH of about 8.5-8.6
Used for isolating Vibrio cholerae
7
Wilson and Blair’s Agar
Addition of dye brilliant green
Used for recovering S. typhi
8
Potassium tellurite medium
Contains 0.04% Potassium tellurite
Used to recover C.diphtheriae
9
Pseudosel Agar (cetrimide agar)
Contains cetrimide (antiseptic agent)
Used to recover Pseudomonas aeruginosa
10
Salmonella-Shigella Agar
Contains bile salts, brilliant green, and sodium citrate
Used for the isolation of Salmonella, which causes typhoid
  • Enrichment media: It’s a liquid medium, used to increase the relative concentration of certain microbes before culturing them on a solid medium plate. It’s used as a broth medium and inhibits the growth of commensal species of microorganisms (those who live in close association with each other) in the clinical specimen.
    It’s also used in isolating fecal and soil microorganisms. Examples are selenite F broth which is used to isolate Salmonella typhi from a fecal sample, tetrathionate broth, and alkaline peptone water.[1]
  • Differential or indicator media: It contains certain indicators like dyes or metabolic substrates in the medium composition which gives different colors to colonies of different microbial species when they utilize or react with these components.
    It allows the growth of more than one microorganism, however, the bacterial colonies are differentiated based on their color when a chemical change occurs in the indicator, such as neutral red, phenol red, methylene blue. Examples are:[1]
    • Blood agar: In blood agar, three types of blood cell lysis or hemolysis are observed: alpha, beta, and gamma hemolysis.[5] It allows the growth of many microorganisms, however, their ability to lyse blood cells differs, and this helps to distinguish the bacterial colonies.
      For example, S. pyogenes completely lyse blood cells (beta hemolysis), thus causing total clearing of the media around its colonies. S. pneumoniae partially lyse red blood cells, resulting in a greenish-colored medium, while gamma hemolytic microorganisms like Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis, can’t lyse red blood cells, thus causing no color change in the medium.[6]
    • Mannitol salts agar: The fermentation of mannitol by Staphylococcus aureus causes the media to change to yellow, however, coagulase-negative staphylococci that can’t cause fermentation to appear in pink.[7]
    • MacConkey agar: It differentiates the gram-negative bacteria based on their lactose metabolism. The lactose fermenting bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, Citrobacter, and Enterobacter forms pink-red colonies, while lactose non-fermenters, like Salmonella, Shigella, Proteus, Providencia, Pseudomonas, and Morganella form pale or colorless colonies.[8]
    • Thiosulfate citrate bile salts sucrose (TCBS) agar: The media contain sucrose, which is utilized by ferment microbes and helps to distinguish them from non-ferment microorganisms. Based on this characteristic, different colored bacterial colonies are formed on the media that help to identify and distinguish them from each other.
      For example, V. cholerae ferment the sucrose and form slightly flattened yellow colonies having opaque centers and translucent peripheries. Whereas, V. parahaemolyticus can’t ferment the sucrose and forms green to blue-green colonies.[9]
  • Transport media: Transport media are useful for clinical specimens which are required to be transferred immediately to labs to maintain the viability of potential pathogens and to prevent overgrowth of commensals or contaminating microorganisms. Some of them are semi-solid in consistency, and examples include:
    • Sach’s buffered glycerol saline: It’s used to transport feces from patients suspected to be suffering from bacillary dysentery.
    • Cary Blair transport and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan media: Fecal samples collected from suspected cholera patients are transported using these media.
    • Pike’s medium: A throat specimen containing Streptococci is transported using this medium.[2]
  • Anaerobic media: This media is for anaerobic bacteria which require low oxygen levels, extra nutrients, and reduced oxidation-reduction potential. It is supplemented with hemin and vitamin K nutrients and oxygen is removed by boiling it in a water bath and sealing it with paraffin film.[2]
    Examples are: Thioglycollate broth and Robertson Cooked Meat (RCM) medium which is commonly used to grow Clostridium spp.[2]
  • Assay media: It’s used for amino acids, vitamins, and antibiotics assays. For example, antibiotic assay media is used to determine the antibiotic potency of microorganisms.
  • Storage media: It’s used to store microorganisms for a longer period, examples are chalk cooked meat broth and egg saline medium.[2]

Conclusion

Culture media is a source of nutrients and growth factors required for the growth of microorganisms and even plants in laboratory conditions. Every organism has different nutritional requirements based on its habitat or living conditions. Therefore, a single formulation of culture media can’t be used to grow all organisms in labs.

Many types of culture media have been developed by scientists to grow selective or desired microorganisms. These are classified based on their nutrient composition, consistency, and application or use in life science laboratories.

Culture media serve several purposes in labs like isolating specific strains of microorganisms, identifying disease-causing pathogens, preparing pure culture of a microbial species, distinguishing bacterial species, and studying their responses to certain antibiotics.

Thus, before deciding which culture media to use, it is critical to determine the purpose of your study and in some cases the type of microorganism you want to study. This narrows down your choices and helps you to choose which media is best for your experiment, without wasting your time and effort.

References:

  1. Tankeshwar Acharya (2021). Bacterial Culture Media: Classification, Types, Uses. Retrieved from https://microbeonline.com/types-of-bacteriological-culture-medium/.
  2. Fatima Aiman (2022). Microbial Culture Media- Definition, Types, Examples, Uses. Retrieved from https://microbenotes.com/types-of-culture-media/#application-of-culture-media.
  3. Rao Sridhar. Bacterial Culture Media. Retrieved from https://www.microrao.com/micronotes/pg/culture_media.pdf.
  4. Aryal Sagar (2022). Salmonella Shigella (SS) Agar- Composition, Principle, Preparation, Results, Uses. Retrieved from https://microbenotes.com/salmonella-shigella-ss-agar/.
  5. Tankeshwar Acharya (2021). Blood Agar and Types of Hemolysis. Retrieved from http://microbeonline.com/blood-agar-composition-preparation-uses-and-types-of-hemolysis/.

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Introduction

In behavioral neuroscience, the Open Field Test (OFT) remains one of the most widely used assays to evaluate rodent models of affect, cognition, and motivation. It provides a non-invasive framework for examining how animals respond to novelty, stress, and pharmacological or environmental manipulations. Among the test’s core metrics, the percentage of time spent in the center zone offers a uniquely normalized and sensitive measure of an animal’s emotional reactivity and willingness to engage with a potentially risky environment.

This metric is calculated as the proportion of time spent in the central area of the arena—typically the inner 25%—relative to the entire session duration. By normalizing this value, researchers gain a behaviorally informative variable that is resilient to fluctuations in session length or overall movement levels. This makes it especially valuable in comparative analyses, longitudinal monitoring, and cross-model validation.

Unlike raw center duration, which can be affected by trial design inconsistencies, the percentage-based measure enables clearer comparisons across animals, treatments, and conditions. It plays a key role in identifying trait anxiety, avoidance behavior, risk-taking tendencies, and environmental adaptation, making it indispensable in both basic and translational research contexts.

Whereas simple center duration provides absolute time, the percentage-based metric introduces greater interpretability and reproducibility, especially when comparing different animal models, treatment conditions, or experimental setups. It is particularly effective for quantifying avoidance behaviors, risk assessment strategies, and trait anxiety profiles in both acute and longitudinal designs.

What Does Percentage of Time in the Centre Measure?

This metric reflects the relative amount of time an animal chooses to spend in the open, exposed portion of the arena—typically defined as the inner 25% of a square or circular enclosure. Because rodents innately prefer the periphery (thigmotaxis), time in the center is inversely associated with anxiety-like behavior. As such, this percentage is considered a sensitive, normalized index of:

  • Exploratory drive vs. risk aversion: High center time reflects an animal’s willingness to engage with uncertain or exposed environments, often indicative of lower anxiety and a stronger intrinsic drive to explore. These animals are more likely to exhibit flexible, information-gathering behaviors. On the other hand, animals that spend little time in the center display a strong bias toward the safety of the perimeter, indicative of a defensive behavioral state or trait-level risk aversion. This dichotomy helps distinguish adaptive exploration from fear-driven avoidance.

  • Emotional reactivity: Fluctuations in center time percentage serve as a sensitive behavioral proxy for changes in emotional state. In stress-prone or trauma-exposed animals, decreased center engagement may reflect hypervigilance or fear generalization, while a sudden increase might indicate emotional blunting or impaired threat appraisal. The metric is also responsive to acute stressors, environmental perturbations, or pharmacological interventions that impact affective regulation.

  • Behavioral confidence and adaptation: Repeated exposure to the same environment typically leads to reduced novelty-induced anxiety and increased behavioral flexibility. A rising trend in center time percentage across trials suggests successful habituation, reduced threat perception, and greater confidence in navigating open spaces. Conversely, a stable or declining trend may indicate behavioral rigidity or chronic stress effects.

  • Pharmacological or genetic modulation: The percentage of time in the center is widely used to evaluate the effects of pharmacological treatments and genetic modifications that influence anxiety-related circuits. Anxiolytic agents—including benzodiazepines, SSRIs, and cannabinoid agonists—reliably increase center occupancy, providing a robust behavioral endpoint in preclinical drug trials. Similarly, genetic models targeting serotonin receptors, GABAergic tone, or HPA axis function often show distinct patterns of center preference, offering translational insights into psychiatric vulnerability and resilience.

Critically, because this metric is normalized by session duration, it accommodates variability in activity levels or testing conditions. This makes it especially suitable for comparing across individuals, treatment groups, or timepoints in longitudinal studies.

A high percentage of center time indicates reduced anxiety, increased novelty-seeking, or pharmacological modulation (e.g., anxiolysis). Conversely, a low percentage suggests emotional inhibition, behavioral avoidance, or contextual hypervigilance. reduced anxiety, increased novelty-seeking, or pharmacological modulation (e.g., anxiolysis). Conversely, a low percentage suggests emotional inhibition, behavioral avoidance, or contextual hypervigilance.

Behavioral Significance and Neuroscientific Context

1. Emotional State and Trait Anxiety

The percentage of center time is one of the most direct, unconditioned readouts of anxiety-like behavior in rodents. It is frequently reduced in models of PTSD, chronic stress, or early-life adversity, where animals exhibit persistent avoidance of the center due to heightened emotional reactivity. This metric can also distinguish between acute anxiety responses and enduring trait anxiety, especially in longitudinal or developmental studies. Its normalized nature makes it ideal for comparing across cohorts with variable locomotor profiles, helping researchers detect true affective changes rather than activity-based confounds.

2. Exploration Strategies and Cognitive Engagement

Rodents that spend more time in the center zone typically exhibit broader and more flexible exploration strategies. This behavior reflects not only reduced anxiety but also cognitive engagement and environmental curiosity. High center percentage is associated with robust spatial learning, attentional scanning, and memory encoding functions, supported by coordinated activation in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and basal forebrain. In contrast, reduced center engagement may signal spatial rigidity, attentional narrowing, or cognitive withdrawal, particularly in models of neurodegeneration or aging.

3. Pharmacological Responsiveness

The open field test remains one of the most widely accepted platforms for testing anxiolytic and psychotropic drugs. The percentage of center time reliably increases following administration of anxiolytic agents such as benzodiazepines, SSRIs, and GABA-A receptor agonists. This metric serves as a sensitive and reproducible endpoint in preclinical dose-finding studies, mechanistic pharmacology, and compound screening pipelines. It also aids in differentiating true anxiolytic effects from sedation or motor suppression by integrating with other behavioral parameters like distance traveled and entry count (Prut & Belzung, 2003).

4. Sex Differences and Hormonal Modulation

Sex-based differences in emotional regulation often manifest in open field behavior, with female rodents generally exhibiting higher variability in center zone metrics due to hormonal cycling. For example, estrogen has been shown to facilitate exploratory behavior and increase center occupancy, while progesterone and stress-induced corticosterone often reduce it. Studies involving gonadectomy, hormone replacement, or sex-specific genetic knockouts use this metric to quantify the impact of endocrine factors on anxiety and exploratory behavior. As such, it remains a vital tool for dissecting sex-dependent neurobehavioral dynamics.
 The percentage of center time is one of the most direct, unconditioned readouts of anxiety-like behavior in rodents. It is frequently reduced in models of PTSD, chronic stress, or early-life adversity. Because it is normalized, this metric is especially helpful for distinguishing between genuine avoidance and low general activity.

Methodological Considerations

  • Zone Definition: Accurately defining the center zone is critical for reliable and reproducible data. In most open field arenas, the center zone constitutes approximately 25% of the total area, centrally located and evenly distanced from the walls. Software-based segmentation tools enhance precision and ensure consistency across trials and experiments. Deviations in zone parameters—whether due to arena geometry or tracking inconsistencies—can result in skewed data, especially when calculating percentages.

     

  • Trial Duration: Trials typically last between 5 to 10 minutes. The percentage of time in the center must be normalized to total trial duration to maintain comparability across animals and experimental groups. Longer trials may lead to fatigue, boredom, or habituation effects that artificially reduce exploratory behavior, while overly short trials may not capture full behavioral repertoires or response to novel stimuli.

     

  • Handling and Habituation: Variability in pre-test handling can introduce confounds, particularly through stress-induced hypoactivity or hyperactivity. Standardized handling routines—including gentle, consistent human interaction in the days leading up to testing—reduce variability. Habituation to the testing room and apparatus prior to data collection helps animals engage in more representative exploratory behavior, minimizing novelty-induced freezing or erratic movement.

     

  • Tracking Accuracy: High-resolution tracking systems should be validated for accurate, real-time detection of full-body center entries and sustained occupancy. The system should distinguish between full zone occupancy and transient overlaps or partial body entries that do not reflect true exploratory behavior. Poor tracking fidelity or lag can produce significant measurement error in percentage calculations.

     

  • Environmental Control: Uniformity in environmental conditions is essential. Lighting should be evenly diffused to avoid shadow bias, and noise should be minimized to prevent stress-induced variability. The arena must be cleaned between trials using odor-neutral solutions to eliminate scent trails or pheromone cues that may affect zone preference. Any variation in these conditions can introduce systematic bias in center zone behavior. Use consistent definitions of the center zone (commonly 25% of total area) to allow valid comparisons. Software-based segmentation enhances spatial precision.

Interpretation with Complementary Metrics

Temporal Dynamics of Center Occupancy

Evaluating how center time evolves across the duration of a session—divided into early, middle, and late thirds—provides insight into behavioral transitions and adaptive responses. Animals may begin by avoiding the center, only to gradually increase center time as they habituate to the environment. Conversely, persistently low center time across the session can signal prolonged anxiety, fear generalization, or a trait-like avoidance phenotype.

Cross-Paradigm Correlation

To validate the significance of center time percentage, it should be examined alongside results from other anxiety-related tests such as the Elevated Plus Maze, Light-Dark Box, or Novelty Suppressed Feeding. Concordance across paradigms supports the reliability of center time as a trait marker, while discordance may indicate task-specific reactivity or behavioral dissociation.

Behavioral Microstructure Analysis

When paired with high-resolution scoring of behavioral events such as rearing, grooming, defecation, or immobility, center time offers a richer view of the animal’s internal state. For example, an animal that spends substantial time in the center while grooming may be coping with mild stress, while another that remains immobile in the periphery may be experiencing more severe anxiety. Microstructure analysis aids in decoding the complexity behind spatial behavior.

Inter-individual Variability and Subgroup Classification

Animals naturally vary in their exploratory style. By analyzing percentage of center time across subjects, researchers can identify behavioral subgroups—such as consistently bold individuals who frequently explore the center versus cautious animals that remain along the periphery. These classifications can be used to examine predictors of drug response, resilience to stress, or vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders.

Machine Learning-Based Behavioral Clustering

In studies with large cohorts or multiple behavioral variables, machine learning techniques such as hierarchical clustering or principal component analysis can incorporate center time percentage to discover novel phenotypic groupings. These data-driven approaches help uncover latent dimensions of behavior that may not be visible through univariate analyses alone.

Total Distance Traveled

Total locomotion helps contextualize center time. Low percentage values in animals with minimal movement may reflect sedation or fatigue, while similar values in high-mobility subjects suggest deliberate avoidance. This metric helps distinguish emotional versus motor causes of low center engagement.

Number of Center Entries

This measure indicates how often the animal initiates exploration of the center zone. When combined with percentage of time, it differentiates between frequent but brief visits (indicative of anxiety or impulsivity) versus fewer but sustained center engagements (suggesting comfort and behavioral confidence).

Latency to First Center Entry

The delay before the first center entry reflects initial threat appraisal. Longer latencies may be associated with heightened fear or low motivation, while shorter latencies are typically linked to exploratory drive or low anxiety.

Thigmotaxis Time

Time spent hugging the walls offers a spatial counterbalance to center metrics. High thigmotaxis and low center time jointly support an interpretation of strong avoidance behavior. This inverse relationship helps triangulate affective and motivational states.

Applications in Translational Research

  • Drug Discovery: The percentage of center time is a key behavioral endpoint in the development and screening of anxiolytic, antidepressant, and antipsychotic medications. Its sensitivity to pharmacological modulation makes it particularly valuable in dose-response assessments and in distinguishing therapeutic effects from sedative or locomotor confounds. Repeated trials can also help assess drug tolerance and chronic efficacy over time.
  • Genetic and Neurodevelopmental Modeling: In transgenic and knockout models, altered center percentage provides a behavioral signature of neurodevelopmental abnormalities. This is particularly relevant in the study of autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, fragile X syndrome, and schizophrenia, where subjects often exhibit heightened anxiety, reduced flexibility, or altered environmental engagement.
  • Hormonal and Sex-Based Research: The metric is highly responsive to hormonal fluctuations, including estrous cycle phases, gonadectomy, and hormone replacement therapies. It supports investigations into sex differences in stress reactivity and the behavioral consequences of endocrine disorders or interventions.
  • Environmental Enrichment and Deprivation: Housing conditions significantly influence anxiety-like behavior and exploratory motivation. Animals raised in enriched environments typically show increased center time, indicative of reduced stress and greater behavioral plasticity. Conversely, socially isolated or stimulus-deprived animals often show strong center avoidance.
  • Behavioral Biomarker Development: As a robust and reproducible readout, center time percentage can serve as a behavioral biomarker in longitudinal and interventional studies. It is increasingly used to identify early signs of affective dysregulation or to track the efficacy of neuromodulatory treatments such as optogenetics, chemogenetics, or deep brain stimulation.
  • Personalized Preclinical Models: This measure supports behavioral stratification, allowing researchers to identify high-anxiety or low-anxiety phenotypes before treatment. This enables within-group comparisons and enhances statistical power by accounting for pre-existing behavioral variation. Used to screen anxiolytic agents and distinguish between compounds with sedative vs. anxiolytic profiles.

Enhancing Research Outcomes with Percentage-Based Analysis

By expressing center zone activity as a proportion of total trial time, researchers gain a metric that is resistant to session variability and more readily comparable across time, treatment, and model conditions. This normalized measure enhances reproducibility and statistical power, particularly in multi-cohort or cross-laboratory designs.

For experimental designs aimed at assessing anxiety, exploratory strategy, or affective state, the percentage of time spent in the center offers one of the most robust and interpretable measures available in the Open Field Test.

Explore high-resolution tracking solutions and open field platforms at
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References

  • Prut, L., & Belzung, C. (2003). The open field as a paradigm to measure the effects of drugs on anxiety-like behaviors: a review. European Journal of Pharmacology, 463(1–3), 3–33.
  • Seibenhener, M. L., & Wooten, M. C. (2015). Use of the open field maze to measure locomotor and anxiety-like behavior in mice. Journal of Visualized Experiments, (96), e52434.
  • Crawley, J. N. (2007). What’s Wrong With My Mouse? Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice. Wiley-Liss.
  • Carola, V., D’Olimpio, F., Brunamonti, E., Mangia, F., & Renzi, P. (2002). Evaluation of the elevated plus-maze and open-field tests for the assessment of anxiety-related behavior in inbred mice. Behavioral Brain Research, 134(1–2), 49–57.

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