Effect of light colour temperature and intensity on τhε behaviour of male C57CL/6J mice

•Light colour temperature, intensity or their combination may affect mice behaviour.•Bright cool light leads to the demonstration of increased anxiety-like behaviour.•Spontaneous behaviour and locomotor activity remain unaffected. Light is an important environmental factor affecting laboratory animals' well-being but still there is a range of light parameters in animal research facilities that need further study. Behavioural testing was conducted to study the impact of different conditions of light colour temperature and intensity (4000K, 60lx; 4000K, 30lx; 2500K, 60lx; 2500K, 30lx) on rodents' behaviour. 24 C57BL/6J mice were subjected to marble burying, open field and elevated plus-maze test to detect effects of lighting on spontaneous behaviour, locomotor activity and anxiety-like behaviour, respectively. Data, as normally distributed, were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Mice exposed to cool light (4000K) of high intensity (60lx) exhibited the highest level of anxiety-like behaviour in the elevated plus-maze test in comparison to the groups of mice exposed to the other lighting conditions, while those exposed to warm light (2500K) of low intensity (30lx) were the less anxious, since a main effect of colour temperature (P