Department of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Nat Protoc. 2020 Mar;15(3):1237-1254. doi: 10.1038/s41596-019-0286-8. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
Skilled forelimb behaviors are among the most important for studying motor learning in multiple species including humans. This protocol describes learned forelimb tasks for mice using a two-axis robotic manipulandum. Our device provides a highly compact adaptation of actuated planar two-axis arms that is simple and inexpensive to construct. This paradigm has been dominant for decades in primate motor neuroscience. Our device can generate arbitrary virtual movement tracks, arbitrary time-varying forces or arbitrary position- or velocity-dependent force patterns. We describe several example tasks permitted by our device, including linear movements, movement sequences and aiming movements. We provide the mechanical drawings and source code needed to assemble and control the device, and detail the procedure to train mice to use the device. Our software can be simply extended to allow users to program various customized movement assays. The device can be assembled in a few days, and the time to train mice on the tasks that we describe ranges from a few days to several weeks. Furthermore, the device is compatible with various neurophysiological techniques that require head fixation.
熟练的前肢行为是研究多种物种（包括人类）运动学习的最重要行为之一。本方案描述了使用双轴机器人操作器对小鼠进行的习得性前肢任务。我们的设备提供了经过简化的紧凑型驱动平面双轴臂，其结构简单且制造成本低廉。几十年来，该范例在灵长类运动神经科学中一直占据主导地位。我们的设备可以生成任意虚拟运动轨迹、任意时变力或任意位置或速度相关的力模式。我们描述了由我们的设备允许的几个示例任务，包括线性运动、运动序列和瞄准运动。我们提供了组装和控制设备所需的机械图纸和源代码，并详细说明了训练小鼠使用该设备的过程。我们的软件可以轻松扩展，以允许用户编程各种定制的运动测定。该设备可以在几天内组装完成，而我们描述的训练小鼠完成这些任务的时间从几天到几周不等。此外，该设备与需要头部固定的各种神经生理学技术兼容。
