What is the Light/Dark Box?

The Light/Dark Box (LDB) test exploits the natural conflict between rodents' tendency to explore novel environments and their innate aversion to brightly lit, open spaces. Animals placed in the brightly lit compartment spontaneously transition to the connected dark chamber; the number of transitions and the proportion of time spent in the light compartment provide validated, pharmacologically sensitive measures of anxiety-like behavior. The LDB is particularly valued for its face validity — the light avoidance response directly parallels the avoidance of exposed, well-lit environments that characterizes anxiety-related states in humans — and for its sensitivity to both acute anxiolytic drugs and chronic stress-induced anxiety changes.

Key Features

• Two-Compartment Design: A dividing wall with a small connecting passage separates the fully enclosed dark chamber from the brightly lit open chamber, creating a sharp contrast that maximizes the conflict-based anxiety response.
• High-Contrast, Non-Reflective Materials: Both compartments use anti-glare materials optimized for video tracking, enabling automatic scoring of transitions, latency to enter the dark compartment, and time in each zone.
• Flexible Wall Options: Standard transparent walls allow overhead and side-view camera recording; opaque white wall variants (Cat. 47442-W, 47443-W) create a higher dark/light contrast for maximal aversion in less anxious or habituated animals.
• Mouse and Rat Sizes: Cat. 47442 (mouse: 44 × 44 cm total, dark chamber 42 × 20 × 40 cm) and Cat. 47443 (rat: 50 × 100 cm total, dark chamber 48 × 48 × 40 cm) provide species-appropriate exploration volumes.
• Open Field Compatible: The transparent-wall mouse version (Cat. 47433) can function as a standard open field when the dark box insert is removed, allowing dual-use for both anxiety and locomotion testing.