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The effects of an enriched rearing environment on two types of anxiety-like behavior (designated "trait" and "state" anxiety) and on spontaneous activity were investigated in two inbred strains of mice, BALB/c (C) and C57BL/6(B6). Subjects were socially reared from birth to 56 days of age under enriched or standard rearing conditions. The enriched environment consisted of an assembly of plastic boxes in which a various number of objects (running wheels, pieces of plastic, etc.) offered the possibility of multiple activities. The subjects were subsequently tested in three situations: a spontaneous activity recorder, an elevated plus-maze test (a model of state anxiety), and a free exploration test (a model of trait anxiety). No group differences could be found in spontaneous activity. Environmental enrichment, however, decreased the level of both types of anxiety-like behavior in the C strain. In contrast, the level of trait anxiety of the B6 mite was not modified. The results were discussed in relation to possible CNS modifications, especially in the limbic system

Activity. --- Age. --- Animal-models. --- Anxiety disorders. --- Anxiety-like behavior. --- Anxiety. --- Behavior. --- Birth. --- Boxes. --- Elevated plus maze. --- Elevated plus-maze test. --- Elevated plus-maze. --- Emotional reactivity. --- Enriched environment. --- Enriched. --- Enrichment. --- Environment. --- Environmental enrichment. --- Exploration. --- Free-exploratory paradigm. --- Group. --- Hippocampal mossy fibers. --- Inbred strains. --- Level. --- Limbic system. --- Mice. --- Model. --- Novelty reactions. --- Object. --- Objects. --- Rats. --- Rattus-norvegicus. --- Reactivity. --- Rearing. --- Running wheel. --- Situations. --- Spontaneous activity. --- System. --- Test. --- Trait anxiety,state anxiety,environmental enrichment,balb c,c57bl/6. --- Validation.