RotoMax Rotometer

Overview

The RotoMax Rotometer is an ideal system used to study circling behavior in animals with spontaneous and drug induced rotation. In particular,it is very beneficial in studying (6-OHDA), Parkinson’s Model as well as brain and spinal cord injury.The Rotometer System is designed to measure and monitor circling behavior of animals (rat, mouse, or other small lab animal species). The system consists of a Fusion Node, rotation sensor which houses the start switch, a transparent circular test chamber or a bowl, mouse or rat harness and the Fusion Windows XP/Vista compatible software. For each experiment conducted, the experiment parameters are dynamically entered, to provide the user with a flexible data collection system. The Fusion software is capable of recording and time stamping every test chamber event. The software allows the user to choose 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 or full turns to be used for rotation counting. Once the experiment data is recorded, it can be reanalyzed as many times as needed. In addition, as improvements and additions to the software become available, archived data can be reanalyzed using the new feature.

The Test Chamber

The compact design of the cylindrical test chamber takes up only a 12” x 12” (30cm x 30cm) area of bench space. The test chamber is transparent and is 30cm in diameter and 30cm high and is open on the bottom, allowing the user to place treated paper under test chamber which can then be easily replaced between experiments (animals).
A bowl based test chamber is also available wherein the bowl is 18″ in diameter with a cover and is conveniently situated on a custom table for ease of use.Each table is designed to hold 4 bowl test chambers.

The Sensor

The sensor is attached to the removable lid when used with the cylinder and is on an extended arm when used with the bowl. Each sensor has a push button start switch. The switch is provided to begin data collection for each animal as soon as it is placed in the test chamber ; however, data collection can also be started and stopped directly via the software. The rotation sensor is read 100 times per second.

The Harness

Rat and mouse harnesses’ are available. The harness is constructed of stainless steel and partially covered with soft tubing to prevent chafing of the animal. The cylinder harness is 30cm (12”) long while the bowl harness is 50cm (20″) long, with the appropriate size loop for mouse or rat at the end of the harness.

Variables

• Clockwise Turns – the number of complete clockwise turns traveled by the subject attached to the rotor (positive turns)
• Counter-Clockwise Turns – the number of complete counter-clockwise turns traveled by the subject attached to the rotor (negative turns)
• Net Turns – The number of complete clockwise turns minus the number of complete counter-clockwise turns traveled by the subject attached to the rotor.