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Dark Enclosure
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Stimulus Hub
Stimulus Hub
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Omnitech Electronics Fusion Software
Fusion Software

Dark Enclosure

The light/dark box test assesses anxiety in rodents by measuring their preference for dark versus brightly lit areas with more time in the dark suggesting higher anxiety. The Fusion system automates this by dividing the cage into light and dark zones, tracking behaviors like movement, time spent, and activity levels to provide detailed anxiety-related data.

 

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Description

Overview

Rodents have an innate aversion to brightly, illuminated areas and their tendency to spontaneously explore novel environments makes the light/dark box test an easy to use apparatus that requires no prior training of the animals. The light/dark test is useful in predicting anxiolytic like or anxiogenic like activity in mice or rats. It has been shown that anxious animals will move to the dark side more quickly and will move away from the dark side less often than those animals without an anxiety trait. Hence, more time on the light side indicates decreased anxiety.

The Fusion system can generate data based on multiple independent Zones within a given cage. A Dark Enclosure is placed at the rear of the Monitor.The Fusion Software is used to divide the cage into 2 equal Zones marked Light and Dark. Data such as Side Changes, Light and Dark Distance Travelled, Horizontal Activity, Time Spent, Movement Time, Rest Time, Vertical Activity and Latency can be measured and recorded.

The Dark Enclosure

The Dark Enclosure allows the Beams in the Horizontal and Vertical sensors to monitor the Animal’s Activity.

The Mouse Dark Enclosure measures – 16″ L x 8″ H x 5″ W with an animal entry opening of 4″ x 1.25″.

The Rat Dark Enclosure measures – 16″ L x 8″ H x 8″ W with an animal entry opening of 4″ x 2.50″.

Research Articles

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