Plus Maze

The Aquatic Light / Dark Plus Maze is used to investigate memory and anxiety-related behavior in Fish. Anxiety responses such as thigmotaxis and light avoidance following the application of anxiolytic or anxiogenic compounds can be evaluated using this test on Fish lines. The aquatic light/dark plus maze is based on the rodent elevated plus maze and is scored similarly. The aquatic apparatus comprises a centre section surrounded by four arms: two opposite white arms and two opposite black arms together forming a plus shape. This maze is based on the instinctive tendency of fish to seek dark backgrounds (or avoid light backgrounds) in unfamiliar environments. Following a period of habituation the fish are allowed to freely explore the maze and observations on arm entries based on drug exposure are made. Increased propensity to explore (e.g., under anxiolytic drug exposure) is paralleled with increased entry into white arms whilst dwelling in the black arms is indicative of a defensive anti-predator anxiety response. The Light/ dark maze is also useful in assessing the effects of stress on spatial and cued memory (associative learning). In this test, the fish can learn to associate a visible cue or location in the maze with the food as reward. A reduction in the number of correct arm entries and time spent in the target arm following the application of a relevant stressor, is usually indicative of impaired memory.

Various parameters are recorded for the light/ dark plus maze and these include the amount of time the fish spend in the white arms or dark arms, latency into white or black arms, as well as the time the fish spend in the centre of the maze.

Analysing aquatic Plus maze experiments using Actual products is easy, and ActualTrack: Fish Edition is designed specifically for analysing fish behavior. Fish in the aquatic Plus maze set-up are monitored with a video camera mounted above the experimental arena which is connected to a computer to record a video file. ActualTrack: Fish Edition software analyses the video file and utilises three-point fish tracking (head, centre of mass, and end of tail) to identify the fish within the arena and determine its position. Using ActualTrack: Fish Edition you can define regions for the Light and Dark arms and accurately and automatically monitor entry of the animal in to the Light and Dark arms based on the location of its head, centre of mass, and end of tail (or any combination thereof). With ActualTrack: Fish Edition, locomotor activity within an aquatic Plus maze is easily assessed and quantified in the Light / Dark arms, or any other region within the arena as defined by the user.

What you need to perform aquatic Plus maze experiments usingActualTrack: Fish 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: Fish 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.

- Fish and Aquatic Light / Dark Plus Maze.

- A computer with a web browser and web access (see requirements for details).

- ActualTrack: Fish 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 a Fish Light / Dark Plus Maze test using ActualTrack: Fish Edition:

- Locomotor results: Distance travelled (cm), Average Speed (cm / s), Locomotor results for each zone ( such as light and dark arms) defined for the fish tank. Angular velocity and fish swim path.

- Zone results based on fish location within the Plus maze: Time spent in each arm [s], Time spent in each arm [%], Latency to each first arm entry [s], Number of visits to each arm [n], Number of visits to each arm [%], First arm visited, arm transitions & timings, Average time spent per visit to each arm, Angular velocity and fish swim path.

- 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: Fish Edition could help you achieve the results you need.