Two-dimensional analysis of voluntary locomotor activity in rats: Compact apparatus and its application from nutritional aspects

A convenient apparatus for measuring the locomotor activity of caged rats was produced from thin metallic chest, video camera, personal computers, fluorescent lamp, infrared lamp, etc. at a cost not exceeding 200,000 yen. This apparatus was large enough for a growing rat to move about at will, whose location and locomotion were memorized at intervals of a second with the connected personal computer. For this reason, the apparatus is more suitable for monitoring 'voluntary' or 'spontaneous' activity than a running wheel or so-called 'Animex' apparatus. The behavior of rats under nutritionally different conditions, as well as those accustomed to meal-feeding either with high-protein and protein-free diets or with diets containing 10% perilla or safflower oil, was successively measured. As a result, it was assumed that the relative locomotor activity would be affected by body mass rather than by the preference for a particular diet and that the time to search for food would not necessarily be shortened by ingesting perilla oil.