Elevated Plus Maze
The Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) is a commonly used behavioural assay for assessing anxiety responses in laboratory animals (rats / mice). The apparatus is designed as a cross shaped elevated maze, with two open arms and two closed arms. The test relies upon the animal's natural aversion to open spaces and heights and preference to stay in enclosed spaces or edges of enclosed spaces. With this test, a nervous mouse or rat is observed to avoid exposed areas. Assessment of anxiety behavior is made by comparing the ratio of time spent on the open arms to the time spent on the closed arms. Total number of arm entries and number of closed-arm entries are usually employed as measures of general activity.
Analysing EPM experiments using Actual products is easy, and ActualTrack: Rodent Edition is designed specifically for analysing rodent behavior. An animal in the EPM set-up is monitored with a video camera mounted above the experimental arena which is connected to a computer to record a video file. ActualTrack: Rodent Edition software analyses the video file and utilises three-point animal tracking (head, centre of mass, and tail base) to identify the animal within the arena and determine its position. Using ActualTrack: Rodent Edition you can define regions for the open and closed arms and accurately and automatically monitor entry of the animal in to the open and closed arms based on the location of its head, centre of mass, and tail base (or any combination thereof). With ActualTrack: Rodent Edition locomotor activity within an EPM is easily assessed and quantified in the open / closed arms, or any other region within the arena as defined by the user.
What you need to perform EPM experiments using ActualTrack: Rodent Edition:
- Digital Camera: from standard digital video camera to professional digital High Definition cameras (to enhance resolution of very small animals or large arenas) ActualTrack: Rodent Edition can work with almost any common video format. See our recommended camera list for the most appropriate camera for your set-up.
- ActualCapture Software (optional) - enables easy direct recording of your experiment to a digital video file. This is recommended when you do not already have a camera and recording software. If you would like us to arrange and supply recording set-up, please contact us.
- Lighting: diffuse lighting from directly above or below ,or infrared (IR) lighting for recording during the dark
- Elevated Plus Maze Arena (rat or mouse).
- A computer with a web browser and web access (see requirements for details ).
- ActualTrack: Rodent Edition software.
Our tracking, scoring and video capture software can be easily optimised to a broad range of hardware and experimental set-ups to ensure the best possible conditions for your video analysis. If required, please contact us for recommendations and a list of preferred suppliers of hardware.
What you can analyse in an EPM with ActualTrack: Rodent Edition:
- Locomotor results: Distance moved (cm), Average Speed (cm / s), Locomotor results for each zone
- Zone results (open & closed arms) based on animal location: Time spent in each zone [s], Time spent in each zone [%], Latency to each first zone entry [s], Number of visits to each zone [n], Number of visits to each zone [%], First Zone visited
- Visualisations: Birds nest plot, heat map
- ActualScore functionality allows for integrated manual coding user defined behaviors
-All results are calculated automatically and provided in an easy to use CSV format which can be imported in to most statistical analysis packages for further
investigation and graphical representation.
- and much more...
For more information, see the product information, or get in touch to find out more about how ActualTrack: Rodent Edition could help you achieve the results you need.
