Dataset Information

Design and construction of a low-cost nose poke system for rodents.

ABSTRACT: Operant behavioral tasks for animals have long been used to probe the function of multiple brain regions (i.e., understanding the role of dopamine in electrical brain stimulation reward [1], or determining the rewarding properties of feeding oriented brain pathways [2]). The recent development of tools and techniques has opened the door to refine the answer to these same questions with a much higher degree of specificity and accuracy, both in biological and spatial-temporal terms [3], [4]. A variety of systems designed to test operant behavior are now commercially available, but have prohibitive costs. Here, we provide a low-cost alternative to a nose poke system for mice. Adapting a freely available sketch for ARDUINO boards, in combination with an in-house built PVC box and inexpensive electronic material we constructed a four-port nose poke system that detects and counts port entries. To verify the applicability and validity of our system we tested the behavior of DAT-CRE transgenic mice injected with an adeno-associated virus to express ChannelRhodopsin 2 in the Ventral tegmental area (VTA) and used the BNC output to drive a blue laser coupled to a fiber implanted above the VTA. Over 6 days, mice perform as it has been reported previously [5] exhibiting a remarkable preference for the port that triggers optogenetic stimulation of VTA dopamine neurons. •We provide a low cost alternative to commercially available nose poke system.•Our custom made apparatus is open source and TTL compatible.•We validate our system with optogenetic self-stimulation of dopamine neurons.

SUBMITTER: Rizzi G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4855068 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Design and construction of a low-cost nose poke system for rodents.

Rizzi Giorgio G Lodge Meredith E ME Tan Kelly R KR

MethodsX 20160419

Operant behavioral tasks for animals have long been used to probe the function of multiple brain regions (i.e., understanding the role of dopamine in electrical brain stimulation reward [1], or determining the rewarding properties of feeding oriented brain pathways [2]). The recent development of tools and techniques has opened the door to refine the answer to these same questions with a much higher degree of specificity and accuracy, both in biological and spatial-temporal terms [3], [4]. A var ...[more]

PMID: 27222822

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Project description:Micro-electrocorticography (?ECoG) offers a minimally invasive neural interface with high spatial resolution over large areas of cortex. However, electrode arrays with many contacts that are individually wired to external recording systems are cumbersome and make recordings in freely behaving rodents challenging. We report a novel high-density 60-electrode system for ?ECoG recording in freely moving rats.Multiplexed headstages overcome the problem of wiring complexity by combining signals from many electrodes to a smaller number of connections. We have developed a low-cost, multiplexed recording system with 60 contacts at 406 ?m spacing. We characterized the quality of the electrode signals using multiple metrics that tracked spatial variation, evoked-response detectability, and decoding value. Performance of the system was validated both in anesthetized animals and freely moving awake animals.We recorded ?ECoG signals over the primary auditory cortex, measuring responses to acoustic stimuli across all channels. Single-trial responses had high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) (up to 25 dB under anesthesia), and were used to rapidly measure network topography within ?10 s by constructing all single-channel receptive fields in parallel. We characterized evoked potential amplitudes and spatial correlations across the array in the anesthetized and awake animals. Recording quality in awake animals was stable for at least 30 days. Finally, we used these responses to accurately decode auditory stimuli on single trials.This study introduces (1) a ?ECoG recording system based on practical hardware design and (2) a rigorous analytical method for characterizing the signal characteristics of ?ECoG electrode arrays. This methodology can be applied to evaluate the fidelity and lifetime of any ?ECoG electrode array. Our ?ECoG-based recording system is accessible and will be useful for studies of perception and decision-making in rodents, particularly over the entire time course of behavioral training and learning.

Dataset Information

Design and construction of a low-cost nose poke system for rodents.

Publications

Design and construction of a low-cost nose poke system for rodents.

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