Polymodal System

Apparatus

The cage consists of a basic structure on which various accessories can be installed for rapid adaptation, space saving and economical evolution.

We have apparatus for Rats, others for Mice. We place the apparatus on mobile aluminum trolleys to save space and facilitate the manipulations of the experimenters.

Accessories:

• detection of locomotor activity, rearings
• house light/cue light, several visible colors available, infrared lights
• retractable lever, pressure-sensitive
• automatic nose-poke (informatic control of the access of the nose-poke)
• pellet dispenser
• feeding trough with visit detection, which may be associated to several dispensers
• drinking trough equipped with a lickmeter, pump
• odor diffusion
• 5-CSRTT kit, Rat Gambling Task kit
• drug self-administration kit: syringe-pump, swivel, movement compensator,…
• cabled grid and scrambled electric shocks generator
• 1-3 tones sound generator, white noise, PC sound, click
• video control and recording
• radio-detection anenna (to distinguish the actions conducted by several animals in the same apparatus)

This rack is connected to an interface, which provides the formatting of signals from infrared sensors and allows communication with the computer.

https://youtu.be/Cw9JkYvoPL0

 

Software

The software (running on Windows) can manage up to 30 cages simultaneously and independently.

It allows :

• independent management of the experiment in each apparatus: control of the actuators (lights, levers, nose pokes, shock, sound,…),
• user-friendly edition of task schedules, establishment of a library of exercises,
• graphical display of the behavioral events,
• secured recording of all the events,
• conducting several days long experiments

A software module, which is dedicated to managing data files, allows:

• the definition of customized output variables
• the calculation of the numbers of events, times, kinetics, events which are conditioned by other events (e.g. analysis of the freezing before and after the emission of a sound), etc.
• the calculation of output variables from a great number of recorded files simultaneously
• the display of output variables in a Microsoft Excel compatible file

Coupling with Electrophysiology / Optogenetics

We propose solutions to couple the analysis of the behavior with electrophysiological recordings and optogenetic activation.

Electrophysiology

We propose:

• a 64-channel electric commutator, equipped with a sophisticated rotation and rearing compensator,
• a communication system to send TTLs pulses to an external device (such as a electrophysiological Input board). These electric signals are synchronous with the events that we manage on our software. In this way, all the events (anilal behavior as well as activation of actuators) will be signed on your electrophysiological trace.

Optogenetics

We developed:

• a rotation and rearing compensator, compatible with any optical commutator,
• a device to activate lasers. This accessory sends electric signals up to 500Hz. The experimenter decides the exact moment according to clocks or behavioral outputs at which a customized train of pulses may be sent to the laser to specifically activate the targeted bunch of neurons.