The standard Open Field Test is commonly used to assess locomotors, exploratory and anxiety-like behavior in
laboratory animals (e.g. rats and mice). Therefore, this test is particularly useful in evaluating the effects of anxiolytic
and anxiogenic drugs, the locomotor responses to drugs and also the behavioral responses to novelty.
The Open Field area generally consists of an empty and bright square―or circular―arena, surrounded by wallsto prevent animal from escaping, and the animal is usually placed in the center of the arena and its behavior is
recorded over a chosen period of time (i.e. from 3 to 15 minutes).
The Open Field test task approaches the conflict between the rats’ desire to explore new environments versus
the innate fear that they have of the central area of a novel or brightly lighted open field; as it is known that
when anxious, the natural tendency of rats is to prefer staying closer to the walls (thigmotaxis). Thus, in relation
to this study, anxiety-related behavior was measured by evaluating the degree to which the rats avoided the center
of the Open Field arena, and immediately after the Hole Board test, the animals were put into test and were
placed into the center of the open field area in order to measure the locomotor activity during 10 min [11].