ACTIVITY MONITOR - Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

MED ASSOCIATES INC. ACTIVITY MONITOR
Two Chamber Place Preference
Two Chamber Place Preference is used for conditioned place preference paradigms. Like
the Dark Box listed above, the Two Chamber Place Preference Insert is simply a box that
slides into the chamber. After the box has been placed into the open-field environment
the I/R array heights will need to be adjusted to ensure that the subjects are tracked
properly (Chapter 1).
The insert covers the entire area of the chamber. The outside of the box is constructed
of clear polycarbonate. Stickers, paper, or any easily removable material may be applied
to the outside of these clear walls to provide distinct visual stimuli to maximize
contextual differences; however, do not cover the photo beams. Each side of the box
has a different floor, grid rods and/or wire mesh. The lid is hinged to allow easy subject
insertion and removal. A manual guillotine door is provided that allows the subject to
pass freely, if so desired. As described above, the software can parse the session data
into zones and determine the amount of time that a subject spends in either area.
Applications for this insert include two chamber Conditioned Place Preference tests and
other two chamber contextual protocols. Two Chamber Place Preference Inserts are
available for the mouse and rat sized chambers.
Hole Board Task Floor
The Hole Board Task has been used for over ten years as a spatial orientation learning
test, a short-term and long-term memory test, and an attention and curiosity monitoring
protocol/device. The Hole Board Task Floor insert is placed into the open-field activity
arena. The Hole Board Floor insert has 16 holes (four rows of four, equidistant holes)
with an underlying food tray. The I/R Arrays must be attached using the lowest available
screw holes. This places the photo-beams between the floor and the tray to detect
entries into the holes. Food may be placed into the tray for learning and memory
protocols using working and reference memory ratios. A second, non-reward application
is to simply place the animal on to the Hole Board insert and monitor hole entries for
novelty/curiosity assessment. Typical reward associated paradigms involve habituation,
pre-testing protocols and non-habituation, no pre-testing protocols. See Chapter 7 and
Appendix VII for more information on the running of this insert.
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