Rizzi Giorgio, Lodge Meredith E, Tan Kelly R
Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 50/70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
MethodsX. 2016 Apr 19;3:326-32. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2016.04.002. eCollection 2016.
Operant behavioral tasks for animals have long been used to probe the function of multiple brain regions (i.e., understanding the role of dopamine in electrical brain stimulation reward [1], or determining the rewarding properties of feeding oriented brain pathways [2]). The recent development of tools and techniques has opened the door to refine the answer to these same questions with a much higher degree of specificity and accuracy, both in biological and spatial-temporal terms [3], [4]. A variety of systems designed to test operant behavior are now commercially available, but have prohibitive costs. Here, we provide a low-cost alternative to a nose poke system for mice. Adapting a freely available sketch for ARDUINO boards, in combination with an in-house built PVC box and inexpensive electronic material we constructed a four-port nose poke system that detects and counts port entries. To verify the applicability and validity of our system we tested the behavior of DAT-CRE transgenic mice injected with an adeno-associated virus to express ChannelRhodopsin 2 in the Ventral tegmental area (VTA) and used the BNC output to drive a blue laser coupled to a fiber implanted above the VTA. Over 6 days, mice perform as it has been reported previously [5] exhibiting a remarkable preference for the port that triggers optogenetic stimulation of VTA dopamine neurons. •We provide a low cost alternative to commercially available nose poke system.•Our custom made apparatus is open source and TTL compatible.•We validate our system with optogenetic self-stimulation of dopamine neurons.
长期以来，动物操作性行为任务一直被用于探究多个脑区的功能（例如，了解多巴胺在脑电刺激奖赏中的作用[1]，或确定与进食相关的脑通路的奖赏特性[2]）。工具和技术的最新发展为在生物学和时空方面以更高的特异性和准确性细化这些相同问题的答案打开了大门[3,4]。现在有多种用于测试操作性行为的系统可供商业购买，但成本高昂。在此，我们为小鼠提供了一种低成本的鼻触系统替代方案。我们采用了一个免费的ARDUINO板草图，结合自制的PVC盒和廉价的电子材料，构建了一个四端口鼻触系统，该系统可检测并统计端口进入情况。为了验证我们系统的适用性和有效性，我们测试了注射腺相关病毒以在腹侧被盖区（VTA）表达通道视紫红质2的DAT-CRE转基因小鼠的行为，并使用BNC输出驱动与植入VTA上方的光纤耦合的蓝色激光。在6天的时间里，小鼠的表现与之前的报道一致[5]，对触发VTA多巴胺能神经元光遗传学刺激的端口表现出明显的偏好。
•我们提供了一种低成本的商业鼻触系统替代方案。
•我们定制的设备是开源的且与TTL兼容。
•我们通过多巴胺能神经元的光遗传学自我刺激来验证我们的系统。
