title: Flat-floored air-lifted platform: a new method for combining behavior with microscopy or electrophysiology on awake freely moving rodents.
abstract: It is widely acknowledged that the use of general anesthetics can undermine the relevance of electrophysiological or microscopical data obtained from a living animal's brain. Moreover, the lengthy recovery from anesthesia limits the frequency of repeated recording/imaging episodes in longitudinal studies. Hence, new methods that would allow stable recordings from non-anesthetized behaving mice are expected to advance the fields of cellular and cognitive neurosciences. Existing solutions range from mere physical restraint to more sophisticated approaches, such as linear and spherical treadmills used in combination with computer-generated virtual reality. Here, a novel method is described where a head-fixed mouse can move around an air-lifted mobile homecage and explore its environment under stress-free conditions. This method allows researchers to perform behavioral tests (e.g., learning, habituation or novel object recognition) simultaneously with two-photon microscopic imaging and/or patch-clamp recordings, all combined in a single experiment. This video-article describes the use of the awake animal head fixation device (mobile homecage), demonstrates the procedures of animal habituation, and exemplifies a number of possible applications of the method.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kislin
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mugantseva
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molotkov
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kulesskaya
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khirug
authors.affiliation: Neurotar LTD.
authors.forename: Ilya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kirilkin
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki; Neurotar LTD.
authors.forename: Evgeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pryazhnikov
authors.affiliation: Neurotar LTD.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kolikova
authors.affiliation: Neurotar LTD.
authors.forename: Dmytro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toptunov
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yuryev
authors.affiliation: A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland.
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giniatullin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Animal Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Vootele
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Voikar
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki.
authors.forename: Heikki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rauvala
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki; leonard.khirug@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Khiroug
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000379:methods; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods