GAP CROSSING
This device was developed for mice and allows to study their motivation to jump from a platform to another one in order to obtain a food reward. Thanks to the high-frequency camera, whisker movments can be observed and analyzed.
Apparatus
The Gap Crossing is equiped by:
- A high structure composed by 2 different platforms. The gap between those can be adjusted by users between 0 to 10 cm,
- A “reward platform” where is located an automatic food dispensers (with a purge system),
- An automatic door which control the access to the distal platform (i.e. reward platform),
- An infrared beams frame to measure the animal progress into the system,
- A sound generator with adjustable decibels,
- A high-frequency camera (300 fps) that allows to film animal’s jump between both platforms,
- A floor with infrared backlight,
- An electronic TTL pulse generator, which allows synchronization with electrophysiology or optogenetics (open and closed-loop activation),
- A PC-computer to run our softwares,
- An electronic interface.
The apparatus is placed in a ventilated wooden cubicle, to isolate the system form the environment.
Software
Our POLY software allows:
- Management of the experiment: opening the door, distribution of rewards,
- Establishment a library of exercises and display in real-time of the behavioral events,
- Secured recording of all the events, etc.
Our POLY_Files software calculates:
- The locomotor activity,
- Time spent in each area,
- The number of times that the animal succeed,
- The number of rewards obtained,
- Delays of response…
All the results are displayed in a Microsoft Excel compatible datasheet.
