title: An animal tracking system for behavior analysis using radio frequency identification.
abstract: Evaluating the behavior of mice and rats has substantially contributed to the progress of research in many scientific fields. Researchers commonly observe recorded video of animal behavior and manually record their observations for later analysis, but this approach has several limitations. The authors developed an automated system for tracking and analyzing the behavior of rodents that is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) in an ultra-high-frequency bandwidth. They provide an overview of the system's hardware and software components as well as describe their technique for surgically implanting passive RFID tags in mice. Finally, the authors present the findings of two validation studies to compare the accuracy of the RFID system versus commonly used approaches for evaluating the locomotor activity and object exploration of mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Catarinucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colella
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mainetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Patrono
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicine Evaluation, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pieretti
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Secco
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sergi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001331:Automation; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D057233:Radio Frequency Identification Device / Q000379:methods*; D012919:Social Behavior