Elevated plus maze (EPM) experiment

The primary mechanism of the EPM for evaluating the depressive behavior of animals involves utilizing the animal’s curiosity and fear (open arms) and dark preference (closed arms), forming a conflict between exploration and avoidance to investigate the depression and anxiety of animals (25). In the experiment, each rat was placed on the central platform of the plus maze with its head facing one of the closed arms. After releasing the rats, they were timed for 5 minutes and the following indicators were recorded: the number of times rats entered the open arm (OE), the number of times rats entered the closed arm (CE), the time rats stayed in the open arm (OT), and the time rats stayed in the closed arm (CT).