title: A novel automated rat catalepsy bar test system based on a RISC microcontroller.
abstract: Catalepsy tests performed in rodents treated with drugs that interfere with dopaminergic transmission have been widely used for the screening of drugs with therapeutic potential in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The basic method for measuring catalepsy intensity is the "standard" bar test. We present here an easy to use microcontroller-based automatic system for recording bar test experiments. The design is simple, compact, and has a low cost. Recording intervals and total experimental time can be programmed within a wide range of values. The resulting catalepsy times are stored, and up to five simultaneous experiments can be recorded. A standard personal computer interface is included. The automated system also permits the elimination of human error associated with factors such as fatigue, distraction, and data transcription, occurring during manual recording. Furthermore, a uniform criterion for timing the cataleptic condition can be achieved. Correlation values between the results obtained with the automated system and those reported by two independent observers ranged between 0.88 and 0.99 (P<0.0001; three treatments, nine animals, 144 catalepsy time measurements).
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurociencias, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, 97000 Mérida, Yucatán, México.
authors.forename: Fernando J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Cervera
authors.forename: Jairo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Villanueva-Toledo
authors.forename: Rosa E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Moo-Puc
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Heredia-López
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Cervera
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pineda
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Góngora-Alfaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D001331:Automation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D001525:Behavioral Sciences / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002375:Catalepsy / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009482:Neurophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012984:Software