The Ugo Basile Lickometer - Vogel Test is a versatile system that can function as a simple software-based lickometer or run Drinking-Conflict experiments and assess the anxiolytic effect of drugs.
In the Drinking-Conflict Vogel paradigm, a water deprived animal is exposed to a lickometer, and licking events are coupled to electric shocks. The animal is in a motivationally conflicting situation, hence the licking behavior is affected by anxiety and anxiolytic drugs.
The Drinking Conflict Vogel test usually consists of three phases:
- Initial wait (triggered by the first licking event)
- Shock phase (the sipper is electrified)
- No-shock phase (no shock is associated to drinking)
For each phase of the experiment, the number and the timing of licking events is recorded and graphically displayed. The alternation between shock and no-shock phase can be based on TIME or N° OF LICKS, according to the user experimental paradigm. When no shock is delivered, the system can be simply used as a software-driven lickometer.
The duration of each phase is user-defined for each cage based either on time or on the animal behaviour (i.e. the sipper is electrified after a defined number of licking events have occurred).
The Lickometer controller and software can manage up to 5 animal cages for either rat or mouse; one shocker is required for each cage.
The user-friendly software, provided as standard, manages the system and experimental configuration, collects and saves the experimental data, and provides a detailed report. Data are saved as .csv file and .rpt file (a proprietary format which can be opened only within the Lickometer software)