A new precise microcomputer based rotometer

A novel rotometer based on a RISC microcontroller

A new, low-cost rotometer, based on a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microcontroller, is presented. Like earlier devices, it counts the number and direction of full turns for predetermined time periods during the evaluation of turning behavior induced by drug administration in rats. The present stand-alone system includes a nonvolatile memory for long-term data storage and a serial port for data transmission. It also contains a display for monitoring the experiments and has battery backup to avoid interruptions owing to power failures. A high correlation was found (r > .988, p < 2 x 10(-14)) between the counts of the rotometer and those of two trained observers. The system reflects quantitative differences in turning behavior owing to pharmacological manipulations. It provides the most common counting parameters and is inexpensive, flexible, highly reliable, and completely portable (weight including batteries, 159 g).

A force-plate actometer for quantitating rodent behaviors: illustrative data on locomotion, rotation, spatial patterning, stereotypies, and tremor

This report describes a new kind of actometer for recording the behavior of rodents or other small animals. The instrument, a force-plate actometer, uses a stiff, low-mass horizontal plate coupled to four supporting force transducers positioned at the corners of the plate. When an animal moves on the plate, its movements are sensed by the transducers whose signals are processed by computer to yield measurements of a wide range of behaviors or behavioral attributes, such as locomotor activity, rotation around the center, whole-body tremor, and amphetamine-induced stereotypies. Spatial resolution is less than 1 mm, and temporal resolution is 0.02 s. Sample data were presented comparing the locomotor activity of CD-1, BALB/c, and C57BL/6 mice before and after treatment with D-amphetamine sulfate. Rotational behavior was recorded in an amphetamine-treated rat that had sustained a unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesion of the nigrostriatal system. In the C57BL/6 mouse, harmaline-induced tremor was quantified. With rats as subjects, the force-plate actometer was used to quantify amphetamine-induced stereotypies, to demonstrate the development of sensitization to amphetamine's effects, and to quantitate the consistent 11-12 Hz rhythmicities that underlie the sterotypies. The performance of the force-plate actometer was compared with that of a variety of instruments reported in the literature on behavioral instrumentation. Finally, potential applications in neuroscience research other than those illustrated in this report were discussed.

A 16-channel automated rotometer system for reliable measurement of turning behavior in 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned and transplanted rats

Unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway in rats result in a massive dopamine (DA) denervation of the ipsilateral striatum. Such animals have proven extremely useful as a model for the study of Parkinson's disease, an idiopathic neurodegenerative disorder of humans. Extensive unilateral DA disruption leaves the rat relatively normal in motor behavior; however, the extent of the lesion can be documented by drug-induced rotational behavior. When given an injection of a dopamine agonist, such as apomorphine or D-amphetamine, a lesioned animal will manifest rotational behavior; the number of turns correlates with the degree of unilateral denervation. In order to identify, for various studies, large numbers of animals with specific levels of denervation, the necessity of an automated and reliable rotational counting system (rotometer) becomes obvious. We have developed such a device that allows up to 16 rats to be tested concurrently with one inexpensive computer. This system is more reliable than, and certainly preferable to, more tedious methods such as videotaping and subsequent manual analysis or various other mechanical systems. Plexiglass, formed into large bowls, serve as the rotometer chambers. We have designed a simple, inexpensive, and accurate counting head that can be manufactured from readily available parts and that is very sturdy and reliable. This, together with a thoracic harness, completes the rotometer assembly. The rotational data, from up to 16 separate channels, is collected by a single-chip microprocessor and sent on a serial line to an IBM-type or MacIntosh host computer. There, it is graphically displayed on line and subsequently saved to disk with a novel acquisition program.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)