poster
Towards a more naturalistic perspective: Enriched open field as an ethologically-relevant exploratory paradigm
Exploration provides information of the environment and its associated points of interest such as food, threats or mates. However, in experimental biology, exploration is vastly described as distance or area covered by the animals (typically rodents). Usually, experimental tests commonly used in laboratories tend to prioritise the minimisation of variables over the complexity of natural environments. While these setups have provided valuable insights, the technological advent of new analysis and 3D printing technologies, allows us to go beyond overly simplistic environments, in order to better understand animal behaviour in contexts that more closely mimic their natural habitats. We designed an Enriched Open Field (EOF) by including modular plastic structures in a classic squared open field (OF) arena for mice in order to increase the number of environmentally relevant landmarks in the arena, so as the quantity of regions with exploratory salience. We tested CD-1 and C57/BL6 female mice roaming freely in the EOF and OF arenas for 10 minutes. As expected, we observed differences between strains, with greater exploration measures in the CD-1 strain. Animals tested in the EOF showed more consistent exploratory patterns, even if they were previously habituated to the modular pieces in the context of a home cage. The average speed of EOF tested animals was greater and the movement more continuous. Our study suggests that the presence of structures may mimic more naturalistic environments, thereby promoting exploratory behaviours that are closer to those exhibited in the animals' natural habitat when foraging or looking for social cues.