Pharmacology & Neuroscience

Rats in maze

Overview


Pharmacologists and neuroscientists play a crucial role in the understanding of brain function and in the development of new treatments for human and animal diseases. 
This often means studying the effects of drugs or other interventions and applying ethological techniques to the analysis of resulting behaviours.
Tracksys provides a range of complete systems for the automation of a wide variety of behavioural tests on laboratory animals using EthoVision XT and IR mazes
More sophisticated behaviours can be analysed using The Observer XT and externally acquired data such as ultrasonic vocalisations, EEG, heart rate, temperature etc can also be inputted into either EthoVision XT or The Observer XT to give a more complete picture of a disease model or drug treatment.

What do you need to do?

Observation Product
Score & analyse behaviours live or from videoThe Observer XT
Measure ultrasonic vocalisationsUltraVox XT
Automatically monitor home cage behaviour of rodentsPhenoTyper
Track movement and location of animals within an arenaEthoVision XT
Assess the gait and footfalls of rodent models of diseasesCatWalk XT
Examine memory, anxiety, activity etc in various paradigmsMazes

Recommended Products

EthoVision XT

EthoVision XT

EthoVision XT software is the most widely published and comprehensive video tracking software, being highly flexible for use with virtually any organism in any arena. Features include marker-less tracking of groups, automatic experimental control and the most powerful data selection and analysis features on the market.

CatWalk XT

CatWalk XT

A complete system for automated quantitative gait analysis in rodents. Objectively and rapidly measure a range of gait and individual paw parameters.

DanioVision

DanioVision

The DanioVision system provides the perfect environment for zebrafish embryo and larvae testing.

UltraVox XT

UltraVox XT

Easy and affordable system.
Full-spectrum sound capture with one microphone.
Easy integration with other behavioral data.
Real-time waveform and spectrogram
Automatic call detection
Easy definition and labeling of calls
Compact setup

The Observer XT

The Observer XT

A complete system to collect, analyse and present observational data, be it human or animal, live or from video. User-friendly, flexible, with the ability to integrate and analyse other data streams, The Observer XT is the perfect hub for many researchers across a variety of disciplines, such as: psychology; zoology; pharmacology; education and training.

Coy MCS

Coy MCS

The Mechanical Conflict-Avoidance System – Harte, Morrow Method provides an operant method of pain testing in rodents.

Artinis Brite MKII

Artinis Brite MKII

A wearable multi-channel fNIRS device for use in: brain oxygenation monitoring; sports science; functional studies; cerebral studies; and hyperscanning. Non-invasive and wireless, great for studies in and out of the lab.

Example Scenarios

Here are some of the scenarios relevant to Pharmacology & Neuroscience and the products that would be appropriate.

Scenario Recommended Products
Social behaviour in group-housed animals

EthoVision XT

The Observer XT

Maternal separation studies and monitoring calling behaviour in rat pups

EthoVision XT

The Observer XT

UltraVox XT

Behavioural patterns in group-housed animals and hormone-behaviour interactions

EthoVision XT

The Observer XT

Home cage testing, activity monitoring and circadian studies in rodents

EthoVision XT

PhenoTyper

Avoiding problems with coat colour variation (e.g. transgenics), sequences of animals with different coat colours and urine reflections

EthoVision XT

Mazes

High-throughput screening (e.g. trials with 100+ zebrafish)

DanioVision

EthoVision XT

Passive avoidance and place preference tests

EthoVision XT

Resident-intruder and social interaction

EthoVision XT

Automation of the forced-swim test

EthoVision XT

Analysing pre-clinical drug effects

EthoVision XT

Case Studies

Automated home cage observations as a tool to measure the effects of wheel running on cage floor locomotion De Visser L, Van den Bos R and Spruijt B.M.

The paper introduces PhenoLab as a tool to measure the effects of wheel running on the time distribution and daily organization of cage floor locomotor activity in mice.  To study these effects, female C57BL/6 mice were assigned to either a running wheel group or a control group with no running wheel. Observations of home cage behavior and running wheel activity were continuously recorded during bo...
Behavioural analysis of transgenic mice overexpressing corticotropin-releasing hormone using The Observer and EthoVision.

Behavioural analysis of transgenic mice overexpressing corticotropin-releasing hormone using The Observer and EthoVision. Dirks A, Groenink L, Verdouw M, van der Gugten J and Olivier B

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays a pivotal role in the response of an organism to various stressors. Furthermore, chronic elevated levels of CRH are implicated in human stress-related and affective disorders, including major depression. To gain more insight into the relationship between hyperactivity of the CRH system and associated neuroendocrine, autonomic, physiological and behavioral...

Using UltraVox to measure rat pup ultrasound vocalizations as an anxiolytic or anxiogenic evaluation procedure. McNee M, Gleason D and McArthur R

Maternal separation of rat pups is an ethopharmacologically validated model of anxiety and is measured by the duration and frequency of ultrasound vocalizations (USVs) made by the pups during this separation. These cries occur between 35 and 45 kHz, and have been described as "distress vocalizations" or "isolation calls".In this article we describe the use of UltraVox in order t...
CatWalk: the next step in gait analysis

CatWalk: the next step in gait analysis Guido Koopmans (Erkrath, Germany)

Quantitative gait analysis is useful in objective assessment of walking ability as well as identifying the underlying causes for walking abnormalities in patients with cerebral palsy, Parkinson disease, stroke, head or spinal cord injury, and other neuromuscular problems. Over the years many different methods are developed to analyze gait in laboratory animals, ranging from scoring spontaneous open...

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