X-PloRat: A Software for Scoring Animal Behavior in Enclosed Spaces

Tejada, Julián; Chaim, Khallil Taverna; Morato, Sílvio

doi:10.1590/0102.3772e3322

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The order of subjects was randomized using http://randomization.com/. Video recordings of the behaviour were made and later analyzed with manual event recording, with the help of the software X-Plo-Rat 2005 (https://github.com/lanec-unifesspa/x-plo-rat [35]) by two trained observers. Observers were not blind to group allocation, as it was not possible to exclude the portion of the video that included the monitor.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditional approach as cooperation in predator inspection: A role for serotonin?

Pimentel

Carvalho

Lima

et al. 2019

Behavioural Brain Research

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In guppies (Poecilia reticulata), a small number of individuals break away from a shoal and approach a potential predator, a behavior termed "predator inspection". These animals often employ a "conditional approach" strategy, in which an individual approaches the predator in the first move and subsequently approaches it only if a second individual swims even with it during inspection. This strategy is analogous to the "tit-for-tat" strategy of the Prisoner's Dilemma, suggesting that it could be used to study cooperation. Serotonin is thought to mediate cooperative behavior in other fish species. Exposure to the animated image of a predator in a tank that contained a parallel mirror -mimicking an equally cooperating conspecific -promoted inspection and decreased refuge use, but increased freezing, suggesting that conditional approach is also associated with fear. To understand whether serotonin participates in conditional approach in guppies, we treated animals with either vehicle (Cortland's salt solution), fluoxetine (2.5 mg/kg) or metergoline (1 mg/kg), and tested then in a predator inspection paradigm. Fluoxetine increased the time the animal spent inspecting the predator image, while metergoline decreased it. Fluoxetine also decreased time spent avoiding the predator and increased freezing, while metergoline decreased freezing. These results suggest that phasic increases in serotonin levels promote conditional approach, suggesting a role for this neurotransmitter in cooperation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditional approach as cooperation in predator inspection: A role for serotonin?

Pimentel

Carvalho

Lima

et al. 2019

Behavioural Brain Research

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show abstract

“…Videos were subsequently analyzed by a trained observer. Similar to a previously described procedure (7), behavioral parameters were scored with a behavior scoring freeware (X-PloRat) developed at the Laboratory of Exploratory Behavior, University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto, Brazil (8). To record the behavior of the subjects, the EGA floor image was divided into fifteen 14×20-cm rectangles (Figure 1, lower part) on a transparent plastic mask placed over the computer screen.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The elevated gradient of aversion: a new apparatus to study the rat behavior dimensions of anxiety, fear, and impulsivity

Rico

Bonuti

Morato

2019

Braz J Med Biol Res

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Few behavioral tests allow measuring several characteristics and most require training, complex analyses, and/or are time-consuming. We present an apparatus based on rat exploratory behavior. Composed of three different environments, it allows the assessment of more than one behavioral characteristic in a short 3-min session. Factorial analyses have defined three behavioral dimensions, which we named Exploration, Impulsivity, and Self-protection. Behaviors composing the Exploration factor were increased by chlordiazepoxide and apomorphine and decreased by pentylenetetrazole. Behaviors composing the Impulsivity factor were increased by chlordiazepoxide, apomorphine, and both acute and chronic imipramine treatments. Behaviors composing the Self-protection factor were decreased by apomorphine. We submitted Wistar rats to the open-field test, the elevated-plus maze, and to the apparatus we are proposing. Measures related to exploratory behavior in all three tests were correlated. Measures composing the factors Impulsivity and Self-protection did not correlate with any measures from the two standard tests. Also, compared with existing impulsivity tests, the one we proposed did not require previous learning, training, or sophisticated analysis. Exploration measures from our test are as easy to obtain as the ones from other standard tests. Thus, we have proposed an apparatus that measured three different behavioral characteristics, was simple and fast, did not require subjects to be submitted to previous learning or training, was sensitive to drug treatments, and did not require sophisticated data analyses.

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“…All sessions were recorded by a vertically mounted camera linked to a monitor. The EPM videos were scored by using software (X-plo-rat 2005, University of São Paulo) ( Tejada et al, 2018 ). Behavioral parameters comprised conventional spatiotemporal measures: frequencies of closed-arm entries, open-arm entries, and the time (in seconds) spent in the open arm of the maze (entry = all four paws into an arm).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glutamatergic Neurotransmission Controls the Functional Lateralization of the mPFC in the Modulation of Anxiety Induced by Social Defeat Stress in Male Mice

Santos-Costa

Baptista-de-Souza

Canto-de-Souza

et al. 2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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The rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is anatomically divided into cingulate (Cg1), prelimbic (PrL), and infralimbic (IL) subareas. The left and right mPFC (L and RmPFC) process emotional responses induced by stress-related stimuli, and LmPFC and RmPFC inhibition elicit anxiogenesis and anxiolysis, respectively. Here we sought to investigate (i) the mPFC functional laterality on social avoidance/anxiogenic-like behaviors in male mice subjected to chronic social defeat stress (SDS), (ii) the effects of left prelimbic (PrL) inhibition (with local injection of CoCl2) on the RmPFC glutamatergic neuronal activation pattern (immunofluorescence assay), and (iii) the effects of the dorsal right mPFC (Cg1 + PrL) NMDA receptor blockade (with local injection of AP7) on the anxiety induced by left dorsal mPFC inhibition in mice exposed to the elevated plus maze (EPM). Results showed that chronic SDS induced anxiogenic-like behaviors followed by the rise of ΔFosB labeling and by ΔFosB + CaMKII double-labeling bilaterally in the Cg1 and IL subareas of the mPFC. Chronic SDS also increased ΔFosB and by ΔFosB + CaMKII labeling only on the right PrL. Also, the left PrL inhibition increased cFos + CaMKII labeling in the contralateral PrL and IL. Moreover, anxiogenesis induced by the left PrL inhibition was blocked by NMDA receptor antagonist AP7 injected into the right PrL. These findings suggest the lateralized control of the glutamatergic neurotransmission in the modulation of emotional-like responses in mice subjected to chronic SDS.

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X-PloRat: A Software for Scoring Animal Behavior in Enclosed Spaces

Cited by 22 publications

References 15 publications

Conditional approach as cooperation in predator inspection: A role for serotonin?

Conditional approach as cooperation in predator inspection: A role for serotonin?

The elevated gradient of aversion: a new apparatus to study the rat behavior dimensions of anxiety, fear, and impulsivity

Glutamatergic Neurotransmission Controls the Functional Lateralization of the mPFC in the Modulation of Anxiety Induced by Social Defeat Stress in Male Mice

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