PheCOMP system
4Pages

PheCOMP system Cutting-edge system for studying compulsive food & drink behaviors in rodents Food & Drink intake system The Panlab PheCOMP System is an automated modular tool developed in the context of the EC-funded PHECOMP project for allowing the behavioral characterization of several animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders related to compulsive behavior in a home cage environment. Its modular design provides reliable solutions for any studies aiming to perform short and long term measurement of food & drink intake and activity. The participation of Panlab s.l.u. in the PHECOMP project aimed to deal with the problems exiting with the available equipment in the market that do not allow a precise and accurate analysis of the pattern of eating and drinking behaviors in rodents, specifically in mice. For this purpose an array of innovations have been realized mainly based on the use of a highly sensitive weight transducer technology and on the development of a specific dispenser design for food wastage and drink dripping collection. Activity screening can be carried out at the same time using infrared sensor frames. • Unmatched sensitivity for mice (20 mg) in the use • Pioneerstransducersof very high stability weight • Multiple combinations of dispensers • Ensures complete retrieving of food and liquid wastage • Unaltered access to food • External dispensers preserving animal living space Compact system with minimal maintenance • • Enables place preference studies APPLICATIONS PRODUCT PRESENTATION Food & Drink intake, Global activity, Locomotor activity, Rearing, Stereotypies, Circadian rhythms, Meal pattern analysis, Addiction, Reward, Obesity, Alcohol dependence, Anxiety, Compulsive behavior tests (choice tests, food and drink adulteration, anticipatory place preference). A product which benefits from the PANLAB s.l.u. strong implication in the PHECOMP European Project (financed by the STEP-SMES: Call FP6-2005

PheCOMP system INNOVATIVE DESIGN Non-stressful homecage environment The is mounted in Allentown Caging Equipment (ACE) standard mice home cage provided with grid floor and filter top. Working in animal living environment allows minimizing stress during the experimental procedure. Multiple Food or Drink choices The animal home cages can be associated to up to 4 external units for food or drink dispenser combination ensuring an optimal flexibility for performing a wide variety of tests requiring food & drink intake and activity monitoring in rodents. It is noteworthy that the dispensers are...

POWERFUL ANALYSIS MODULE Data Acquisition and storage Data acquisition is monitored though the Compulse software. Meal Pattern Analysis Meal pattern Analysis represents an analytical examination of the distribution of the drinking and feeding episodes over the light-dark cycle. • Up to 12 cages simultaneously Intake consumption evolution, beams break ac• tivity, rearing and current animal position are displayed in real-time. Generates two data files: MTB file opened from the Compulse software for Intake & Meal Pattern Analysis and TAC file opened from the Actitrack software for Global...

PheCOMP system Global activity and Tracking! Animal activity and rearing are recorded simultaneously by the means of 2 dimensional IR frames. Global activity and tracking files generated during the acquisition from real time beam breaks can be opened by the Actitrack software for enabling the user to check data, generate reports, print out results and obtain charts for visual presentation. Animal trajectories can be analyzed and re-analyzed with different zone configurations and parameters for generating a new set of data. All data obtained by Actitrack is expressed in ASCII format and can be...