Open-field experiments allow the evaluation of animal’s basal activity and its evolution, in response to novelty or anxiogenic environment, and in response to pharmacological treatment, lesion or genetic modification.

Panlab proposes square open-fields available for rats and mice. The arena is made of durable material which has the advantage to be non-absorbent to the odours and easy to clean. The arena is surrounded by high walls and is available in different non reflective colours for video-tracking purposes. The system is entirely demountable for enabling storage in the minimum space. The floor can be divided into equal squares under request for the direct counting of animal activity. 

The Panlab open-field can be combined with the SMART video-tracking system for the automated evaluation of a wide variety of behaviors (activity, exploration, anxiety, etc...)

Para pruebas estandares de condicionamiento operante y en cajas de conducta.

The Panlab Operant Chamber is an entirely modular experimental enclosure designed to conduct operant conditioning procedures (e.g. food reinforcement, DMTS, conflict tests, self-administration…). 

The operant chamber is made in an entirely modular structure which allows complete disassembling or rearrangement to build a new space of different dimensions/components or to enable storage in the minimum space.

A frontal door offers a total accessibility inside the chamber. Walls and cover can be of different material or colour, since they are totally removable. 

Each chamber is associated with a Link Box which provides power to up to 8 (expandable depending of the customer configuration) Operant Modules (levers, lights, sound, dispensers, electrical shock...) conferring to the chambers a full autonomy. 

Only one cable connects the Link Box to the PC (PackWin Software), this last for advanced protocol configuration and running.

The Panlab Infrared (IR) Actimeter allows the study of spontaneous locomotor activity, rearings and optionally hole-board test parameters for exploration in rodents. A reliable system for easy and rapid drug screening and phenotype characterisation in both day and night lighting conditions. 

The system is basically composed by a 2 dimensional (X and Y axes) square frame, a frame support and a control unit. Each frame counts with 16 x 16 infrared beams for optimal subject detection.

The system is completely modular: each frame may be used for evaluation of general activity (one or several animals), locomotor and stereotyped movements or rearings or exploration (nose-spoke detection in the hole-board option). The infrared photocell system can be set with up to 15 levels of sensitivity in order to adapt the frames to the typology of the animal (rats, mice). It can also be set to ignore the beams that are obstructed by objects (e.g. the walls/corners of the home cage).

The frames can be controlled by the independent control units LE8825 or directly through the optional SEDACOM computer software. The new SEDACOM 2.0 version provides an easy and convenient way to visualize and export the data on a computer for further analysis. 

Optionally, the ActiTrack software option may be used to analyse animal trajectories (distance, speed, permanence time in selected zones) and then provide additional complementary data to those obtained using the control units.

NEW ACCESSORIES FOR THE DARK/LIGHT BOX TEST!

• LE8826 Dark Box for Large IR Frames
• LE8828 Dark Box for Small IR Frames

Panlab Hot/Cold Plate Analgesia Meter is based on a metal plate which can be heated to 65°C and cooled to -3°C (with an ambient temperature between 20°C and 25°C). An electronic thermostat maintains the plate's temperature and a front panel digital thermometer displays the current plate temperature. 

The animal pain sensitivity resulting from exposure to heat or cold is tested by placing the animal on the surface of the plate and starting a built-in timer. The operator stops the timer at the instant the animal lifts its paw from the plate, reacting to the discomfort. The front panel timer then displays the number of seconds the animal took to react. Animal reaction time is a measurement of animal resistance to pain and is used to measure efficacy of analgesics. 

The plate is designed to be very simple to use at very fast to reach the set temperature (as example From ambient to 4°C, the most used threhold value, it takes less than 10 minutes, and from 4°C to 65°C it takes only 5 minutes) . Metrology wise, is accurate to less than 0,5°C (EEC metrology standard) and perfectly constant in the animal holder system. The preset temperature will not change for more than 0,1°C when a 400g rat is placed on the plate, and return to the set temperature is almost immediate.

 In addition, the instrument can be adjusted to be used for "TEMPERATURE RAMPS" , predefined by the user, this feature is mainly used for studies with telemetry implants. In addition to displaying the reaction time, the Cold/Hot Plate Analgesia Meter is capable of sending the same information via USB interface to a computer. 

The operator can start and stop the timer with the front panel start/stop switch or with the included footswitch, which allows "hands-free" operation.

The grip strength meter allows the study of neuromuscular functions in rodents by determining the maximum force displayed by an animal. This test is included in the Functional Observational Battery (FOB) to screen for neurobehavioral toxicity. In this context, changes in grip strength are interpreted as evidence of motor neurotoxicity.

Basically, the grip strength meter is positioned horizontally and the subjects are held by the tail and lowered towards the apparatus. The animals are allowed to grasp the metal grid or triangular pull bar and are then pulled backwards in the horizontal plane. The force applied to the grid or to the bar just before it loses grip is recorded as the peak tension. This force can be measured in grams, Newtons or Ibs.

The grip test includes one accessory by default (bar for rat, grid for rat, bar for mouse or grid for mouse). A different part number is available depending of the included accessory chosen by the customer. The other available accessories can still be added if needed.

Data output is carried out through RS232, printer, or chart recorder. Depending on the grid type used, grip strength can be measured from the front or hind paws.

The SEDACOM 2.0 or BIO-CIS software provides an easy and convenient way to visualize and export the data on a computer for further analysis.

The Incapacitance test (weight bearing test) represents an unsurpassed method for assessing spontaneous pain in laboratory animal model with inflammation or nerve injury in one hind paw (neuropathy, carrageenin, incision…). Indeed, classic measurements of nociceptive thresholds as used in most of the experimental studies allows assessment of only a pain sensitivity level, not a spontaneous pain level, in the absence of experimental nociceptive stimuli. 

In the incapacitance test, the animal is located in a holder specially designed to maintain the animal comfortably positioned on two separated sensor plates. The Panlab Incapacitance tester enables then to quantify the spontaneous postural changes reflecting spontaneous pain by independently measuring the weight that the animal applies each hind paw on two separate sensors. In the absence of hind paw injury, rats applied equal weight on both hind paws, indicating a postural equilibrium. After unilateral hind paw tissue injury, a change in the weight distribution on the sensor can be detected, with a lower weight applied by the injured paw. 

The current value of the weight applied on each sensor cell is shown on the LCD display of the LE7950 control unit in a user-selected unit (grams, Newton or oz/lbs). Now with a brand new touch-screen console! A remote foot-switch controls the test start/stop allowing rapid hands-free experiments. The control unit also allows to compute and display statistics (mean, sd) for the groups of animals under test during the measurements. No PC is required for running the incapacitance test, although the possibility is given to send collected data from the instrument to a PC through the integrated RS232 interface SEDACOM. 

The new SEDACOM 2.0 version (optional) provides an easy and convenient way to visualize and export the data on a computer for further analysis.

The LE7406 Hot Plate performs rapid and precise screening of analgesic drug properties on small-laboratory animals according to the ‘hot-plate test’. The animal’s pain sensitivity alterations induced by a specific experimental context change and/or genetic manipulations can also be evaluated through this method. 

Basically, the hot-plate test, initially described by N.B. Eddy and D. Leimbach (1953), evaluates thermal pain reflexes due to footpad contact with a heated surface. During the experiments, the animal is confined in a removable clear acrylic cylinder where the latency time to the first hind paw or/and jumping responses are measured. 

In the LE7406 Hot Plate, a thick aluminium plate (10 mm) provides a high temperature stability and even surface distribution. The plate temperature can be held at a set point between 45 and 62°C (± 0.1ºC) by multiple proportional feedback circuits that minimize overshoot. A built-in timer activated by an external foot switch allows precise measurement of reaction time (0.1 sec precision). A remote foot-switch controls the test start/stop allowing rapid hands-free experiments. The operator can read the animal reaction time from the display or from a PC computer using the SEDACOM software. 

The optional SEDACOM software (new version 2.0 available) can be used and represents an easy and convenient way to visualize and export the data (Trial number, plate temperature, reaction time etc.) on a computer for further analysis.

The standard elevated plus maze is commonly used to assess anxiety-like behavior in small laboratory animals (rat/mice).

The maze is usually a cross shaped maze with two open arms and two closed arms, which is elevated above the floor. This task exploits the conflict between the innate fear that rodents have of open areas versus their desire to explore novel environments. Security is provided by the closed arms whereas the open arms offer exploratory value. When anxious, the natural tendency of rodents is to prefer enclosed dark spaces to opened brightly lit spaces. In this context, anxiety-related behavior is measured by the degree to which the rodent avoids the unenclosed arms of the maze.

The elevated plus maze can be used with a video tracking system such as the SMART video-tracking software.

Please contact us for any request of customized elevated plus maze configuration (color, size etc.)

WHAT IS NEW?

• The mazes are now provided with all accessories for black, white or grey floors/walls, all included in the same part number.
• The height of the walls of the standard configuration of the rat elevated plus maze has been lowered to 35 cm.

The electronic model of Von-Frey filament combines ease of use and rapidity for the determination of the mechanical sensitivity threshold in rodent.

Description

Basically, a tip is applied against the central edge of the animal hind paw. Paw withdrawal caused by the stimulation is registered as a response. The corresponding force applied is recorded by the system and displayed on the large backlighted screen of the Von-Frey unit with a resolution of 0.1 grams. A different tip is used for rat (hard plastic tip) and mice (elastic spring tip).

Differently to the procedure using classical Von-Frey filaments, the threshold value can be obtained in only one test, and in a highly reproducible manner. A foot-switch is proved to carry out rapid hands-free experiments.

The new Electronic Von Frey EVF4 is provided with a easier and more comfortable handle. The BIO-CIS software can be used to automatically record the results on a PC through a RS 232 port (direct Excel exportation).

Component Included

• Stimulus handle
• Hard (10 units) and soft (1 unit) tips for rat and mouse
• Footswitch
• Storage casing
• Software (only with 750976 EVF4S)

 Stand and enclosure have to be purchased separately.

The Panlab dark-light box allows easy and quick evaluation of the animal anxious behavior and its modification by pharmacological agents by assessing the animal displacements in two compartments with different size, color and illumination.

The dark-light experimental box, constructed of Perspex, is composed of a small black compartments and a big white compartment separated by a connecting gate. Each compartment has its own removable Perspex floor of the same color of the respective walls and 90 X 90 mm sectors delimited by lines. The compartments are independently illuminated: the white one with a 100 W white bulb and the black one with a 40 W red bulb. Both bulbs are 370 mm from the floor of the box.

The Panlab dark-light box can be supplied with a weight transducer system for automated animal detection. In that case, the automated experimental chambers (up to 8) are associated to the PC-based control software PPCWIN for data storage and analysis.

Even though it may represent a more complex experiment to set due to the strong lighting contrast existing between the compartments, some researchers also use the box with a video tracking system.