ETHOWATCHER: validation of a tool for behavioral and video-tracking analysis in laboratory animals.
We present a software (ETHOWATCHER(®)) developed to support ethography, object tracking and extraction of kinematic variables from digital video files of laboratory animals. The tracking module allows controlled segmentation of the target from the background, extracting image attributes used to calculate the distance traveled, orientation, length, area and a path graph of the experimental animal. The ethography module allows recording of catalog-based behaviors from environment or from video files continuously or frame-by-frame. The output reports duration, frequency and latency of each behavior and the sequence of events in a time-segmented format, set by the user. Validation tests were conducted on kinematic measurements and on the detection of known behavioral effects of drugs. This software is freely available at www.ethowatcher.ufsc.br.
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, EEL-CTC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil.
Carlos Fernando
CF
Crispim Junior
Cesar Nonato
CN
Pederiva
Ricardo Chessini
RC
Bose
Vitor Augusto
VA
Garcia
Cilene
C
Lino-de-Oliveira
José
J
Marino-Neto
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014741:Video Recording / Q000379:methods*
D002110:Caffeine