Open Field

The Open Field (OF) test is designed to measure locomotor, exploratory and anxiety-like behaviors of rodents and is particularly useful in evaluating the effects of anxiolytic and anxiogenic drugs. The open-field apparatus is an empty square (or circular) enclosed arena in which the animal's activity is recorded. This test exploits the rat or mouse innate tendency to avoid open spaces and desire to explore novel environments. The mouse or rat is placed in a corner of the field and the amount of time spent in the periphery of the apparatus is compared to the amount of time spent exploring the open field. Anxiety-related behavior is measured by the degree to which the rodent avoids the centre of the open field versus exploring the open space. In addition to general locomotor activity frequency of visits and time spent in the open space are also recorded.

Analysing OF experiments using Actual products is easy, and ActualTrack: Rodent Edition is designed specifically for analysing rodent behavior. An animal in the OF 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 field and accurately and automatically monitor entry of the animal to regions 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 OF is also easily assessed and quantified in any user-defined region within the arena.

What you need to perform OF 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.

- Open Field 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 OF with ActualTrack: Rodent Edition:

- Locomotor results: Distance moved (cm), Average Speed (cm / s), Locomotor results for each zone

- Zone results 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.