Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Psychiatry 1735-4587 15 1 2020 02 12 88 95 EN Alfredo Briones-Aranda Pharmacology Laboratory, Faculty of Human Medicine, Autonomous University of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México. Manuela Castellanos-Pérez Pharmacology Laboratory, Faculty of Human Medicine, Autonomous University of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México. Victor Manuel Vega-Villa Pharmacology Laboratory, Faculty of Human Medicine, Autonomous University of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México. Ofir Picazo Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México City, México. 2018 05 13 Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the influence of short-term (2-week) exposure to social (SE) and/or physical enrichment (PE) on the anxiety-like behavior of ovariectomized (OVX) NIH Swiss mice. Method: One week after surgery, each OVX mouse was housed under one of 4 social conditions: (1) isolated, (2) accompanied by an intact female, (3) accompanied by an intact male, or (4) in a community of 10 OVX individuals. The animals in each of these environments were divided into 2 subgroups, consisting of the presence and absence of PE. Following a 2-week exposure to the respective conditions, each OVX mouse was subjected to either the light/dark exploration test (LDT) or the elevated plus maze (EPM) to examine anxiety-like behavior. Results: The LDT and EPM showed very similar patterns. Compared to an impoverished environment, PE elicited a significant anxiolytic effect for OVX mice housed alone or in companion of an intact female (F [1, 54] = 16.11, P = 0.001). By contrast, mice living in community but without PE displayed anxiogenic-like behavior, perhaps due to crowding, compared to the animals living in isolation (F [1, 36] = 5.64, P = 0.023). Conclusion: This study emphasized the importance of taking housing conditions into account during the screening of new anxiolytic agents and the critical role of OVX in the regulation of anxiety. https://ijps.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijps/article/view/1395 https://ijps.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijps/article/download/1395/906