Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

Foreword

People live in the world and have a variety of behaviors. These behaviors constitute the social environment in which we live. Animals also have many behaviors, reproductive behavior, foraging behavior, avoidance behavior, combat behavior, altruistic behavior, and so on. Animal behavior is a discipline that studies animal behavior. By studying the laws of previous studies on animal behavior, we can understand the state and needs of animals in an observational and experimental way. As an empirical subject, experimental methods are especially important. In this paper, as a literature review of the zero maze video analysis system, after reading 12 animal behavior analysis papers, several conventional experimental methods including 0 labyrinth were selectively extracted and described in detail. Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

2 text

Animal behavioral experiments mainly include learning and memory, drug addiction, anti-anxiety and depression, anti-fatigue, neuropsychiatric and pain test. Among them, anti-anxiety and depression can be used as a pre-test for most animal behavioral experiments, as a judgment of anxiety in each group of animals. Of course, the exploratory nature of the hole plate experiment can also be used as a physiological and psychological indicator of a group of animals.

2.1 Learning and Memory

Learning and memory experiments require that familiar conditions be established between experimental animals and laboratory personnel to ensure that the contact between the laboratory and the animal does not cause interference in the experimental animals. Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

2.1.1 Hole plate experiment

The hole plate test is based on the nature of the rat's like caving. It can effectively reflect the ability of rats to explore the new environment (Kamei et al, 2004; Calamandrei et al, 1996). The experimental box is divided into two layers inside and outside, and the outer layer is used for sound insulation; a square hollow plastic column is arranged in the middle of the inner layer to restrict some activities of the animal. The inner layer has 22 horizontal photocells. An infrared light source is arranged opposite the photocell. A group of photocells is 40mm from the bottom plate for recording the amount of activity, moving forward, and so on. Another group of photocells was 125 cm from the bottom plate to record the standing activity of the animals. Each of the four corners of the box has a photocell that records the activity at the corner. The number and time of caving of the rats were recorded by photocells 0.5 cm below the bottom plate

The test animals were placed in the hole plate device at the same time for 30 minutes while the measurement recording was started, and the number of holes was read every two minutes to make the number of times of the cavity-time curve. Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

In the actual results of the hole plate experiment, it can be seen that the frequency of the cavity will decrease with time. If the measurement is repeated in the same device for several days, the significant decrease between the total number of holes can be seen. The experimental environment has produced learning and has some memory. The frequency reduction measured in this experiment is the learning and memory ability of experimental animals.

2.1.2 Morris Water Maze

The Morris water maze was proposed in the early 1980s and is still used as an experiment to effectively measure the learning and memory ability of experimental animals. The whole experimental process is divided into two parts: hidden platform acquisition training and probetrial testing.

Hidden platform acquisition experiment: used to measure the learning and memory ability of animals in the water maze. Experimental time: 4 days. Animals were free to swim for 2 minutes before the experiment. The experimental training was carried out 4 times a day for 60 seconds, randomly selecting one from the four inlet points of the east, south, west and north. The surface of the experimental animal was placed in the water, and the time required for the experimental animals to find and climb the latent platform was recorded. Escape latency. If the experimental animal did not find the platform within 60 seconds, the experimenter guided it to the platform, and the escape latency was recorded as 60 seconds; then the experimental animals were allowed to stay on the platform for 20 s. After each training and after the training is completed, the experimental animals are quickly washed and dried, placed near the heat source to prevent the animal's body temperature from being too low. A total of 16 training sessions per experimental animal. The average of 4 escape latency periods for each group was calculated.

Space search experimental space search experiment: used to measure the memory retention ability of experimental animals to the spatial position of the platform. On the 5th day, the platform was removed, and the experimental animals were placed in the water at the entrance point. The animals were swimming in the water for 60 s. The following parameters were measured: the swimming time of the animal in the quadrant of the original platform and other quadrants; in the 20% marginal zone, 40% of the edge The length of the swimming path in the district and central area to analyze the similarities and differences of animal search strategies; average swimming speed; number of times crossing the original platform position

2.1.3 Shuttle box

The model consists of two boxes of substantially identical shape with a door connection between the two boxes for the passage of experimental animals.

The shuttle box can carry out various avoidance experiments, such as electric shock, pungent smell, and scent of things. When one side is set as a dark room, it can be used as a darkening experiment to study the learning and memory ability of experimental animals.

The shuttle box model is mainly composed of two types of avoidance experiments: active avoidance experiment and passive avoidance experiment.

The active avoidance experiment requires the experimental animals to take active measures to avoid unfavorable stimuli after training. The experimental device is two boxes with no difference between light and dark. The experiment is divided into two stages: memory acquisition and memory retention. In the memory acquisition stage, the experimental animals are first placed in one of the boxes. After the animals adapt to the environment, first give a perceptible unconditional stimulus, such as high-frequency stable sound stimulation or flash light stimulation, after a period of time ( 40~70 seconds), applying an unfavorable stimulus, such as a foot electric shock, the experimental animal can escape the electric shock only after escaping to another box, training a certain number of times, such as 30 times. The memory retention experiment was performed at 24 hours and 48 hours after the memory acquisition experiment. The experimental procedure was the same as the memory acquisition experiment, and the delay time in response to the sound stimulation and the escape behavior was recorded. The active avoidance experiment primarily reflects the animal's ability to non-reported memory. Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

The idea of ​​a passive avoidance experiment is to let the animal remember the adverse consequences of a certain behavior, so that the animal will hesitate the next time he wants to perform the behavior. The darkness test is a passive use of the shuttle box for the dark box. Avoid the experiment. The illumination was applied to one side of the non-black box. At the beginning of the experiment, the experimental animals were placed in a bright box. Due to the instinct of the experimental animals, the animals entered the small box and entered the black box repeatedly. The next day's experiment was the same as the first day, but after the experimental animals entered the dark box, the door between the two boxes was closed, and the experimental animals were given a continuous foot shock for a few seconds. The animals were taken out for a period of time and then strengthened again, several times. On the third day of the experiment, the animals were placed in a clear box and the delay time for the animals to enter the black box from the bright box was recorded. The longer the delay time, the better the animal's ability to learn and remember.

In addition to the shuttle box, the platform test and the climbing rod experiment are also commonly used experimental schemes for active avoidance and passive avoidance.

2.2 Neuropsychiatric

2.2.1 Market experiment

The experimental animals were placed in a rectangular experiment box with an open top, and the box was covered with glass. The bottom of the experiment box is virtually divided into several areas of the same size (based on the size of the test animal), and the number of times the experimental animals enter each area, and the number of uprights per unit time are recorded.

According to the animal's circadian rhythm, a 150-minute open-court behavior experiment was conducted. After the experiment, the experimental animals were returned to the cage for rest. The same time at the same time the next day (or the same time when the pre-experimental measurements showed no significant difference in activity), the open field experiment was repeated again.

The open field experimental system is to observe the neuropsymatic changes of experimental animals and the various behaviors after entering the open environment. For example, animals are afraid of the new open environment and mainly act in the surrounding areas. There are fewer activities in the central area, but the animal's inquiry characteristics are Motivating them to generate activities in the central area can also observe the resulting anxiety. Central stimulant drugs can significantly increase autonomous activities and reduce inquiry behavior. A certain dose of antipsychotic drugs can reduce inquiry behavior without affecting voluntary activities.

In addition, the open field experiment can also be used for learning and memory analysis. By calculating the area under the erect-time curve (area under curve, AUC) and comparing the percentage of the experimental AUC drop, the experimental animal's adaptation to the environment is analyzed. ability. The greater the decline in AUC, the more profound the experimental animals' memory of the environment. Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

2.3 Anti-anxiety and depression

Anxiolytic and antidepressant drugs are best combined with open field experiments to distinguish central excitatory and antidepressant effects

2.3.1 Forced swimming

When the rat or mouse puts in a limited space to swim, it starts to swim hard and escapes, and soon becomes immobile - only the nostrils are kept to keep breathing, and the limbs are occasionally Huadong to keep the body from sinking. This is the performance of the animal giving up and escaping hope, and it is behavioral despair. Most antidepressants, under acute sub-treatment conditions (administered 2 to 3 times within 24 hours), can effectively fight against immobility and allow experimental animals to swim.

Male rats, weighing 180-200 grams, were housed in a single cage the day before the experiment. The animals were divided into experimental group and control group. The experiment was divided into two days. On the first day, a single rat was placed in water and allowed to swim for 15 minutes. After being taken out, it was baked in a greenhouse at 32 ° C and returned to the cage. The administration group can be given before the two experiments, or only before the second experiment. After 24 hours, the experiment recorded the time of the accumulated state in the swimming pool for 5 minutes, and the literature review of the animal behavior test method

2.3.2 elevated 0 labyrinth

The elevated 0 labyrinth is a traditional and novel animal behavior system developed from the elevated cross maze. The elevated 0 labyrinth system is a four-phase, closed, open-area elevated circular platform. The closed quadrant and the open quadrant are distinct, eliminating the ambiguous area in the middle of the cross maze.

The same batch of experimental animals were randomly grouped and divided into a control group and a drug-administered group. The experimental animals were placed in an open box for 5 minutes before the experiment, and then the experiment was started.

The control group was injected with physiological saline to place the experimental animals in the closed arm and began to count. The measured parameters were the number of probes on the edge of the platform, the movement time and distance of the open arms, and the number of times the arms were opened and closed. The drug-administered group was injected with anti-anxiety or anti-depressant drugs and the same parameters were measured to compare the effects of the drug.

In addition, the elevated 0 labyrinth can also be used directly as a pre-test of animal physiology or behavior to understand the anxiety of this group of animals. Literature review of experimental methods of animal behavior

3 Summary

"The experimental methods of the hole plate experiment, the elevated 0 labyrinth (the elevated cross maze), the open field experiment, and the more common pre-tests for animal behavior research, through these experiments can well understand the various aspects of experimental animals. The long time of zoology experiment is very demanding and boring, and the video analysis system is developing, so that these boring tasks can be automatically completed by the computer, and the systematic error can be reduced while making the animal physiology experiment easy. The literature review of animal behavior experiment methods .