A spherical treadmill system to train head-fixed adult rats.

Autor: Miguelez Fernández AMM; Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IBYME-CONICET), Vuelta de Obligado 2490, C1428ADN, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas, CONICET, Godoy Cruz 2290, C1425FQB, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina., Burman A; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas, CONICET, Godoy Cruz 2290, C1425FQB, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ingeniería, Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica, Paseo Colon 850, C1063ACV, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina., Martínez Cáceres AI; Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ingeniería, Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica, Paseo Colon 850, C1063ACV, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina., Mininni CJ; Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IBYME-CONICET), Vuelta de Obligado 2490, C1428ADN, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas, CONICET, Godoy Cruz 2290, C1425FQB, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina., Zanutto BS; Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IBYME-CONICET), Vuelta de Obligado 2490, C1428ADN, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas, CONICET, Godoy Cruz 2290, C1425FQB, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ingeniería, Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica, Paseo Colon 850, C1063ACV, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina., Lew SE; Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ingeniería, Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica, Paseo Colon 850, C1063ACV, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: slew@fi.uba.ar.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of neuroscience methods [J Neurosci Methods] 2018 Mar 01; Vol. 297, pp. 22-30. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Dec 26.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2017.12.018
Abstrakt: Background: While spherical treadmills are widely used in mouse models, there are only a few experimental setups suitable for adult rats, and none of them include head-fixation.
New Method: We introduce a novel spherical treadmill apparatus for head-fixed rats that allows a wide repertory of natural responses. The rat is secured to a frame and placed on a freely rotating sphere. While being head-fixed, it can walk in any direction and perform different motor tasks.
Comparison With Existing Methods: Instead of being air-lifted, which is acceptable for light animals, the treadmill is sustained by three spherical bearings ensuring a smooth rotation in any direction. Movement detection is accomplished using a video camera that registers a dot pattern plotted on the sphere.
Results: Long Evans rats were trained to perform an auditory discrimination task in a Go/No-Go (walking/not-walking) paradigm. Animals were able to successfully discriminate between a 1 kHz and a 8 kHz auditory stimulus and execute the correct response, reaching the learning criterion (80% of correct responses) in approximately 20 training sessions.
Conclusions: Our system broadens the possibilities of head-fixation experiments in adult rats making them compatible with spatial navigation on a spherical treadmill.
(Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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