Quantitative evaluation of long-term locomotor activity of rats

The locomotor activity of small animals gives information on their actual psychophysiological state. Changes in it might be used to characterize effects of different impacts on the animals (electric and magnetic field, side effects of medication, etc.). The conventional animal activity meters could not provide the resolution and precision necessary for position measurement during the behavioral studies. Passive marker-based motion analysis offers the solution. For the research work, the PRIMAS analyzer was available. The experiments confirmed that position-time functions of rats held in transparent tube-like cages can be recorded for long periods (several days) with excellent resolution (0.1-mm), precision (1-mm), and accuracy (2-mm).