Animal Food Intake Monitor Software
Summary
Quantitatively measure the food intake of singly housed mice or rats using a standard pellet dispenser equipped with infrared beam for pellet detection. A pellet is delivered at the start of the experiment. Every time the pellet is retrieved, another is delivered until the end of the experiment.
- Break the data down into multiple phases.
- For example, if the experiment will last for one week, one could have a phase for each day, every 12 hours, and the entire week
- The program requires that there be one phase named “Day”, which is used to determine when the house light should be turned on or off
- The number of hours in the day phase is user-defined, to experiment with how either a longer or shorter day cycle might effect an animal’s eating patterns
Meal Definition
In order for the beginning of a meal to be recognized, the animal must take enough pellets to meet the “Minimum Meal Size” and the animal must do this in less than the “Meal Period End Criteria”.
In order for a meal to end, the “Meal Period End Criteria“ must pass with no pellets having been taken.
In the below example, the following settings are used:
- Pellet Size = 20 mg
- Minimum Meal Size = 3 pellets
- Meal Period End Criteria = 10 minutes
- Count All Pellets = Not Selected
Example:
- 0:00 The program is started
- 3:00 Animal takes the first pellet
- 11:00 Animal takes another pellet
- 13:00 Animal doesn’t take any more pellets
In this example only 2 pellets were taken within the ten minute time span, therefore a meal is not started and the pellets are not counted.
SKU: SOF-710
Required Hardware
- Med Associates operant chamber or home cage
- House light
- Pellet dispenser
- Pellet receptacle w/IR beam
Specifications | |
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Species | Mouse, Rat |
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