title: Automated home cage observations as a tool to measure the effects of wheel running on cage floor locomotion.
abstract: This paper introduces automated observations in a modular home cage system as a tool to measure the effects of wheel running on the time distribution and daily organization of cage floor locomotor activity in female C57BL/6 mice. Mice (n = 16) were placed in the home cage system for 6 consecutive days. Fifty percent of the subjects had free access to a running wheel that was integrated in the home cage. Overall activity levels in terms of duration of movement were increased by wheel running, while time spent inside a sheltering box was decreased. Wheel running affected the hourly pattern of movement during the animals' active period of the day. Mice without a running wheel, in contrast to mice with a running wheel, showed a clear differentiation between novelty-induced and baseline levels of locomotion as reflected by a decrease after the first day of introduction to the home cage. The results are discussed in the light of the use of running wheels as a tool to measure general activity and as an object for environmental enrichment. Furthermore, the possibilities of using automated home cage observations for e.g. behavioural phenotyping are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animals, Science and Society, Ethology and Animal Welfare, Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leonie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Visser
authors.forename: Ruud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van den Bos
authors.forename: Berry M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Spruijt
mesh_terms: D000204:Activity Cycles / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001331:Automation; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D019370:Observation / Q000379:methods*; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014894:Weights and Measures