A sorting system with automated gates permits individual operant experiments with mice from a social home cage

Winter, York; Schaefers, Andrea T.U.

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2011.01.017

Cited by 45 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The detection of an animal by the RFID readers and the movement of the gates were controlled by PhenoSoft software (PhenoSys). In principle, this operated similarly to an equivalent system for mice [17]. PhenoSoft recorded the time that each individual rat entered or left the sorter and the operant chamber, the start time of each session and the total duration of the animal’s stay in the operant chamber.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Automated, Experimenter-Free Method for the Standardised, Operant Cognitive Testing of Rats

et al. 2017

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Animal models of human pathology are essential for biomedical research. However, a recurring issue in the use of animal models is the poor reproducibility of behavioural and physiological findings within and between laboratories. The most critical factor influencing this issue remains the experimenter themselves. One solution is the use of procedures devoid of human intervention. We present a novel approach to experimenter-free testing cognitive abilities in rats, by combining undisturbed group housing with automated, standardized and individual operant testing. This experimenter-free system consisted of an automated-operant system (Bussey-Saksida rat touch screen) connected to a home cage containing group living rats via an automated animal sorter (PhenoSys). The automated animal sorter, which is based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, functioned as a mechanical replacement of the experimenter. Rats learnt to regularly and individually enter the operant chamber and remained there for the duration of the experimental session only. Self-motivated rats acquired the complex touch screen task of trial-unique non-matching to location (TUNL) in half the time reported for animals that were manually placed into the operant chamber. Rat performance was similar between the two groups within our laboratory, and comparable to previously published results obtained elsewhere. This reproducibility, both within and between laboratories, confirms the validity of this approach. In addition, automation reduced daily experimental time by 80%, eliminated animal handling, and reduced equipment cost. This automated, experimenter-free setup is a promising tool of great potential for testing a large variety of functions with full automation in future studies.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Automated, Experimenter-Free Method for the Standardised, Operant Cognitive Testing of Rats

et al. 2017

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“…Automated monitoring often takes place in the absence of humans, which is a key when studying prey species such as mice where stoicism may be adaptive and the presence of humans may mask behavioural indicators of ill health, particularly when pathological changes are mild to moderate (Weary et al, 2009). Automation also greatly reduces the requirement for animal handling which may be stressful and/or confound studies (Tecott and Nestler, 2004;de Visser et al, 2006;Steele et al, 2007b;Winter and Schaefers, 2011). If assessment of the animals using automated technologies is carried out in an enriched and/or complex environment, this is likely to encourage a broad range of species-typical behaviours as well as allowing animals to maintain some control over which resources they invest in (Tecott and Nestler, 2004;Spruijt and DeVisser, 2006;Littin et al, 2008), a key advantage from an animal welfare perspective (Olsson et al, 2003).…”

Section: Why Automate the Study Of Behaviour?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The power of automated behavioural homecage technologies in characterizing disease progression in laboratory mice: A review

Richardson

2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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a b s t r a c tBehavioural changes that occur as animals become sick have been characterized in a number of species and include the less frequent occurrence of 'luxury behaviours' such as playing, grooming and socialization. 'Sickness behaviours' or behavioural changes following exposure to infectious agents, have been particularly well described; animals are typically less active, sleep more, exhibit postural changes and consume less food/water. Disease is frequently induced in laboratory mice to model pathophysiological processes and investigate potential therapies but despite what is known about behavioural changes as animals become sick, behavioural phenotyping of mice involved in disease studies is relatively rare. A detailed understanding of how behaviour changes as mice get sick could be applied to improve welfare of laboratory mice and support the underlying biomedical research. Specifically, characterizing behavioural changes in ill health could help those working with laboratory mice to recognize when refinements should be introduced, when severity limits are being approached and when humane endpoints should be implemented. Understanding how behaviour changes with illness may also help to identify compounds that have a clinical effect as well as when these agents act. There are an increasing number of automated systems to monitor the behaviour of laboratory mice in their homecages incorporating technologies such as the quantification of cage movement, automated video analysis and radiofrequency identification transponders/readers. Mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases particularly Huntington's disease have been well characterized using these systems and behavioural biomarkers of pathology, including changes in the animals' use of environmental enrichment, changes in food/water consumption and alterations in circadian rhythms, are now monitored by laboratories worldwide and used to refine studies and develop therapies. In contrast, automated behavioural technologies have not been used to characterize the behaviour of mice with systemic diseases such as cancer and liver disease. In this review, common behavioural changes that occur in animals with declining health will be discussed with an emphasis on progressive disease studies involving mice. Automated homecage behaviour recording technologies will then be summarized, studies in which these systems have been used to characterize the behaviour of mice with progressive diseases will be reviewed and the potential to apply automated technologies to refine disease studies involving mice will be discussed.

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“…As previously correctly pointed out (Crabbe and Morris, 2004), it is unfeasible to design automated tests which rely on a robotic system to capture and ferry animals from their home cage to the test arena. Fully automated testing may instead be carried out in the animals’ home cage (de Visser et al, 2006; Krackow et al, 2010) or in a test module attached to the home cage via an automated sorting system (Schaefers and Winter, 2011; Winter and Schaefers, 2011). Integration of the test equipment and home cage into a single unit is for example used in the IntelliCage (Krackow et al, 2010) and the PhenoTyper (de Visser et al, 2006).…”

Section: Automated Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The test equipment can, for example, only be used by one group of animals at a time, and to test a group of animals in several different in-cage test systems, the animals have to be transferred between them. These limitations may be resolved by adding an automated sorting system between the home cage and the test arena, a strategy which has been successfully implemented for both an operant chamber (Winter and Schaefers, 2011) and an automated T-maze (Schaefers and Winter, 2011). In this setup, the animals are tagged using RFID-chips which can be identified by the sorting system which make sure that only one animal at a time enters the test arena.…”

Section: Automated Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structured evaluation of rodent behavioral tests used in drug discovery research

Hånell

Marklund

2014

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

110

109

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A large variety of rodent behavioral tests are currently being used to evaluate traits such as sensory-motor function, social interactions, anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior, substance dependence and various forms of cognitive function. Most behavioral tests have an inherent complexity, and their use requires consideration of several aspects such as the source of motivation in the test, the interaction between experimenter and animal, sources of variability, the sensory modality required by the animal to solve the task as well as costs and required work effort. Of particular importance is a test’s validity because of its influence on the chance of successful translation of preclinical results to clinical settings. High validity may, however, have to be balanced against practical constraints and there are no behavioral tests with optimal characteristics. The design and development of new behavioral tests is therefore an ongoing effort and there are now well over one hundred tests described in the contemporary literature. Some of them are well established following extensive use, while others are novel and still unproven. The task of choosing a behavioral test for a particular project may therefore be daunting and the aim of the present review is to provide a structured way to evaluate rodent behavioral tests aimed at drug discovery research.

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A sorting system with automated gates permits individual operant experiments with mice from a social home cage

Cited by 45 publications

References 12 publications

An Automated, Experimenter-Free Method for the Standardised, Operant Cognitive Testing of Rats

An Automated, Experimenter-Free Method for the Standardised, Operant Cognitive Testing of Rats

The power of automated behavioural homecage technologies in characterizing disease progression in laboratory mice: A review

Structured evaluation of rodent behavioral tests used in drug discovery research

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