Individually Customisable, Non-Invasive Head Immobilisation for Primates with the Option for Voluntary Engagement

许多在动物手术中需要头部固定的神经科学实验室使用手术植入的头部柱子。相比之下，几乎所有的人类头部固定手术都依赖于非侵入性的头部约束技术。多年来，人们已经进行了一些尝试，以开发非侵入性头枕，特别是用于清醒和行为正常的非人类灵长类动物，但这些系统在更换手术植入的头柱方面效果甚微。我们已经确定了以前的系统可能没有被广泛接受的几个原因。其中一些问题是，目前的系统，1)一种适合所有动物的方法，因此不适用于不同大小或不同物种的动物；2)通常阻止进入眼睛跟踪和声音或视觉刺激，这是许多实验室在头部固定期间所要求的；3)使用时会造成痛苦；4)产生压力点，可能会感染或不能充分固定头部；5)据我们所知，似乎没有其他选择可以训练动物自愿使用头部固定系统，以保持较短的约束期。因此，许多实验室继续依赖他们习惯的做法：通过手术植入头柱。我们提出了一个定制的头部固定系统，并在这项提案中提出了一种旨在解决所有这些问题的方法。我们的方法是基于英国各地医院每天为成人和儿童癌症患者使用的非侵入性头盔。例如，如果一个人被诊断出患有头部或颈部癌症，这可能需要紧急放射治疗。这种治疗依赖于精确的、定制的头部固定系统，以便在针对癌细胞的高能放射治疗期间将头部移动降至最低，同时将邻近组织的损伤降至最低。因此，癌症放射治疗单位已经成为为各种大小的患者提供个性化的、非侵入性的头部固定选择的专家。为了这个项目，我们与纽卡斯尔弗里曼医院的癌症放射治疗单位建立了合作关系。从他们在人类身上常规使用的方法中，我们已经确定了一种方法，它有可能克服以前在非人类灵长类动物中使用的头部限制方法的局限性。我们的目标是在几个不同大小的灵长类动物(以及两个不同的物种)中开发和测试这个系统。我们将评估该系统的有效性和可以使用普通神经科学程序获得的数据的质量，并将聘请商业合作伙伴帮助我们广泛营销和分发该系统。特别是，我们的目标是开发高度可定制的头盔和一种新的方法，在这种方法中，将训练动物在较短的固定时间内使用面罩系统。通过这些方式，该项目提供了相当大的创新机会，以帮助减少对侵入性方法的依赖。特别是对于参与非侵入性程序的动物，例如人类常用的脑成像或红外眼跟踪技术，非侵入性头部固定系统有机会使这些方法100%非侵入性。

Many neuroscientific laboratories that require head immobilisation in animal procedures use surgically implanted head posts. By contrast, nearly all head immobilisation procedures with humans rely on non-invasive head restraint techniques. Some attempts have been made over the years to develop non-invasive head restraints for, in particular, work with awake and behaving nonhuman primates, but these systems have had little impact in replacing the surgically implanted head posts. We have identified several reasons why the previous systems may not have been broadly accepted. Some of the issues are that the current systems, 1) are of the 'one size fits all' approach and thus will not work with animals of different sizes or those of different species, 2) often prevent access for eye tracking and sound or visual stimulation that many laboratories require during head immobilisation, 3) cause distress when being used, 4) create pressure points that can become infected or do not sufficiently immobilise the head, and 5) to our knowledge, there do not seem to be options where the animals can be trained to voluntarily engage a head immobilisation system for shorter period of restraint. Thus many laboratories continue to rely on what they are used to: surgically implanted head post options. We propose a customised head immobilisation system and an approach in this proposal that aims to address all of these issues. Our approach is based on non-invasive head restraints that are being used daily in hospitals across the U.K. for adult and child cancer patients. For instance if a person is diagnosed with head or neck cancer this might require urgent radiotherapy treatment. This treatment depends on a precise, customised head immobilisation system so that head movement can be minimised during high-energy radiotherapy that targets cancerous cells while minimising neighbouring tissue damage. Thereby, cancer radiotherapy units have become experts at providing individually customised, non-invasive head immobilisation options for patients of many sizes. For this project we have established a collaboration with the Cancer Radiotherapy Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. Out of the approaches that they routinely use with humans we have identified one that has the potential to overcome the limitations of previous head restrain approaches in nonhuman primates. We aim to develop and test this system in several primates of different sizes (and in two different species). We will evaluate the effectiveness of the system and the quality of the data that can be obtained using common neuroscientific procedures and will engage a commercial partner to help us to broadly market and distribute the systems. In particular, we aim to develop highly customisable helmets and a novel approach where the animals will be trained to engage a face mask system for shorter periods of immobilisation. In these ways, the project provides considerable opportunity for innovation to help to reduce the reliance on invasive approaches. In particular for animals participating in non-invasive procedures, such as brain imaging or infra-red eye tracking techniques that are commonly in use with humans, a non-invasive head immobilisation system has the opportunity to make these approaches 100% non-invasive.