Sams-Dodd F
Pharmacological Research, H. Lundbeck A/S, Valby, Denmark.
J Neurosci Methods. 1995 Jul;59(2):157-67. doi: 10.1016/0165-0270(94)00173-e.
The social interaction test is a valuable behavioural model for testing anxiolytic and neuroleptic drugs. The test quantifies the level of social behaviour between pairs of rats and it is usually based on manual analysis of behaviour. Advances in computer technology have made it possible to track the movements of pairs of rats in an arena, and the present paper describes the automation of the social interaction test by the commercial video-tracking programme, the EthoVision system. The ability of the automated system to correctly measure the social behaviour of rats is demonstrated by determining a dose-response relationship in the social interaction test for phencyclidine, a psychotomimetic drug that reduces social behaviour between pairs of rats. These data are subsequently analysed by the manual and automated data-acquisition methods and the results are compared. The study shows that the automated data-acquisition method best describes the behavioural effects of phencyclidine in the social interaction test by the locomotor activity of the rats, how much time the rats spend in different sections of the testing arena, and the level of social behaviour. Correlation analysis of the results from the manual and automated data-acquisition methods shows that the social behaviour measured by the automated system corresponds correctly to the social behaviour measured by the manual analysis. The present study has shown that the automated data-acquisition method can quantify locomotor activity, how rats use a testing arena and the level of social behaviour between rats in the social interaction test. The system cannot distinguish between social and aggressive behaviours, and therefore the rats should be tested in an unfamiliar arena to reduce territorial behaviour. Taking this limitation into consideration, the social interaction test can be automated by this computer-based video-tracking system and can be used as a routine test for quantifying the effects of drugs on the social behaviour of rats.
社交互动测试是一种用于测试抗焦虑药和抗精神病药的重要行为模型。该测试可量化成对大鼠之间的社交行为水平，通常基于对行为的人工分析。计算机技术的进步使得在实验场地中追踪成对大鼠的运动成为可能，本文描述了利用商业视频追踪程序EthoVision系统实现社交互动测试的自动化。通过确定致幻药苯环己哌啶在社交互动测试中的剂量反应关系，证明了该自动化系统正确测量大鼠社交行为的能力，苯环己哌啶会减少成对大鼠之间的社交行为。随后通过人工和自动化数据采集方法对这些数据进行分析，并比较结果。研究表明，自动化数据采集方法通过大鼠的运动活动、大鼠在测试场地不同区域花费的时间以及社交行为水平，能最好地描述苯环己哌啶在社交互动测试中的行为效应。人工和自动化数据采集方法结果的相关性分析表明，自动化系统测量的社交行为与人工分析测量的社交行为正确对应。本研究表明，自动化数据采集方法可以量化社交互动测试中大鼠的运动活动、大鼠对测试场地的使用情况以及大鼠之间的社交行为水平。该系统无法区分社交行为和攻击行为，因此应在陌生的场地对大鼠进行测试，以减少领地行为。考虑到这一局限性，社交互动测试可以通过这种基于计算机的视频追踪系统实现自动化，并可作为一种常规测试，用于量化药物对大鼠社交行为的影响。
