Self Head-Restraining System
The system teaches mice to perform voluntary head restriction by automating the learning process, which improves the efficiency and accuracy of head-restricted rodent behavior.
- Mice learn voluntary head restriction in as little as two weeks
- The automated learning process removes experimenter bias and reduces experimenter labor
- Train up to 4 mice per day with a single platform
Automate Behavioral Mice Training for Head-Restrained Tasks
The ability to record neural activity during mouse behavior provides an opportunity to understand brain function at a new level of detail. Head-restrained behavioral assays in mice are perfect for this purpose because they allow real-time monitoring of neural circuits during complex operant behavior. However, traditionally, training mice to feel comfortable under head-restriction procedures has proven to be extremely laborious and time-consuming. Before head-restrained training procedures in mice, experimenters must habituate the mouse to the head-restriction process and can take up to several weeks without this system. Add training time for your head-restrained behavioral assays, and now you are looking at several months to train a single mouse to perform head-restrained operant behavior. Using the Self Head-Restraining Platform, you can cut down training time by 90%.
How the Self-Head Restraining System Works
The self-head-restraining platform automates the entire mouse head-restriction process through operant training principles. Mice are guided to walk through a narrowing corridor and into a head-latching stage that lowers by gravity. Once latched, mice can receive timed water rewards for the rest of the session. By attaching to the home cage, mice have extended access to the platform to learn voluntary head-restriction under lower stress conditions. This also reduces experimenter time and labor, allowing you to begin head-restrained training procedures much sooner.
Main setup
Head-restriction unit
Wheel
See the Self Head-Restraining System in action.
Publications
NEWS:
Moving neuroscience into the fast lane
“A new high-throughput system with an industrial approach can standardize experiments to facilitate reproducibility and data sharing.
At the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, a two-year project from Andrea Benucci’s research group and O’Hara and Co LTD. has culminated in the construction and deployment of a high-throughput system to study mouse behavior and physiology. The system aims to deliver larger, standardized datasets, a reduction in the number of experimental animals, and time-savings through complete automation.”
Read the full post from the Science Daily.
Parts and Accessories
Ohara-self-restraint-Whole_setup_wheel
Front view of self-restraint platform
O’hara-Licking-unit-and-Wheel
Side view of self-restraint platform
O-hara-head-restraint-HeadLatch
Head fixation unit
DualCorridor-square
Dual corridor chambers
Ohara-task-forcer-water_supply_unit
Water Supply Unit (Range: 1-7 µL per lick)
Specifications
Platform Dimensions: 335 (W) x 210 (D) x 118 (H) mm
Corridor Dimensions: 3o (W) x 30 (H)
Compatible with our Task Studio Software
You want to collect, analyze, and disseminate data—not provide software support! With our proven Task Studio software, simply assemble your trial with flowchart-like simplicity, and configure your triggers and executors with checklist-like ease. And if other researchers want to reproduce your findings, simply direct them to use Task Studio, too. This will save you from the headaches of “free software support” that you’d never intended to offer.
Recent Blog Articles
Part II – Next stop – RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Tokyo, Japan.
Dr. Benucci and O’Hara designed the Self Head-Restraining Platform, a high throughput system for mouse behavior and neurophysiology.
Teaching Mice to Train Themselves : The Scoop on O’Hara’s New Behavioral Testing System
Understanding how neural circuits give rise to behavior is one of the most sought after questions in Neuroscience.