To measure anxiety-like behavior, the FoxO1 knockout mice were subjected to the EPMT. In male mice, the time spent in open arms was significantly different among wild-type controls, heterozygous, and homozygous FoxO1 knockout mice. Both heterozygous and homozygous FoxO1 knockout mice stayed a significantly longer time in open arms of the maze during the test period when compared to wild-type controls, whereas there was no difference between the heterozygous and homozygous FoxO1 knockout mice (Figure 4a). Although time in closed arms was only mildly shorter in FoxO1 knockout mice, it was noted that the frequency to entering closed arms was significantly lower in FoxO1 knockout mice than in wild-type controls. Results shown in Figure 4a were a summary of three separate experiments and similar results were observed in all three experiments. These results demonstrate that FoxO1 plays a role in mediating anxiety-like behavior in mice.
