Activity Cage - Spontaneous Activity for Mice and Rats

Background

• Measures horizontal and vertical activity in rats and mice, useful in the following types of investigations:
  • General Toxicology for ascertaining the action of a drug 
  • Psychopharmacology for screening drugs which are potentially active on the CNS 
  • Behavioral Sciences for evaluating the variations of spontaneous activity after changes in environmental conditions.

Horizontal and vertical movements, complete set up

• Movement is tracked by beam breaks as the animal crosses one or more I.R. beam/s in the cage. 
• Horizontal and vertical movements are recorded unobtrusively and saved to the electronic unit (stand-alone controller). 
• Easily integrated with video tracking system to measure rearing XY position.
• The I.R. beams are arranged in an array of emitters on one side of the cage, detectors on another. The upper IR array that monitors vertical or rearing activity is height-adjustable. 
• The activity data are displayed at pre-set time intervals and routed to the computer according to the selected configuration. The data can be customized by adding animal and experiment numbers, gender, etc.
• The experiment is configured using touch buttons and graphic display.
• Customize experiment data by adding animal & experiment numbers, gender, etc.
• The Activity Cage includes:
  • Electronic unit with graphic display
  • An animal cage of clear Perspex, 40x40cm
  • Two sets of emitter/sensor arrays for horizontal and vertical activity 
  • Serial port, plus serial to USB adaptor, for PC connection
  • Software
• Add up to 5 extra cages for high throughput. The electronic unit processes data up to 6 cages. 
• Open-field cages are also available in different dimensions and colors. Ask for details.

Easily integrated to Video-tracking

• The Any-maze videotracking software already includes drivers for the Ugo Basile Activity Cage so that the XY position of the animal and all derived measures can be coupled to the rearing measure obtained by the IR beams.