Technological and Physical Enhancements for Primate Behavioral Testing Suites

 描述(由申请人提供)：俄勒冈州国家灵长类动物研究中心(ONPRC)是八个国家灵长类动物研究中心之一，其重点是为正在探索改善人类健康方法的研究人员开发和提供人类疾病模型。ONPRC有40多名教员首席研究员，他们使用非人类灵长类(NHP)模型参与四个科学部门的研究：1)神经科学；2)生殖与发育科学；3)病理生物学与免疫学；4)糖尿病、肥胖与新陈代谢。越来越多的此类研究涉及对行为的评估，因此，该中心在动物服务大楼-3内建立了一个由八个行为测试套件组成的集群，旨在共享使用。这些套房提供单独的封闭空间作为NHP行为观察的操作室，并为观察者/计算机提供前厅以记录对测试的反应。卫生保健计划没有安置在这些房间里，空间里也没有永久性的设备。自从目前的行为测试套件建立以来，包括评估与我们的动物疾病模型相关的灵长类行为的各个方面的研究数量显着增加。除了增加评估行为的新技术外，我们还扩大了正在研究的动物模型的数量，部分原因是我们成功地资助了这类研究。然而，随着更多的项目得到资助，需要技术和物质上的改进来加强研究和改善国家核电计划的福祉。在这项申请中，我们建议升级十年前为此目的而设计和建造的设施，但这些设施是根据不同的标准建造的，因为许多或所有实验数据都是使用麻醉的猴子获得的。目前，声音很容易在房间之间传播，灵长类动物在一个房间里醒着时发出的声音会扰乱所有其他房间测试对象的注意力。我们的目标是在认知测试中更好地适应非麻醉(清醒)动物，这是我们目前资助的赠款所需的评估类型。我们建议对使用基于计算机的数据采集系统的程序进行现代化改造，为每个房间的房间提供触摸屏，并增加一台装有数据采集、数据输出和各种认知任务初步分析软件的计算机服务器。我们还计划在套房入口处的外部走廊安装监视器，将所有套房活动捕捉到一个分屏中，以增强安全性和限制中断。我们的具体目标是：(1)在个别测试室的墙壁和天花板上增加隔音建筑材料；(2)通过移除反射面并将照明改为包括调光设备的可变非荧光灯来改善环境；(3)在观察室之间提供电信号中断，以协助遥测；以及(4)增强行为套房进行远程数据采集和监控的能力。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) is one of eight National Primate Research Centers whose focus is to develop and to provide models for human disease for investigators who are exploring ways to improve human health. The ONPRC has over 40 faculty principal investigators who are involved in research using nonhuman primate (NHP) models in four scientific divisions: 1) Neuroscience; 2) Reproductive & Developmental Sciences; 3) Pathobiology & Immunology; and 4) Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism. An increasing number of these studies involve the assessment of behaviors, and for this reason the Center constructed a cluster of eight behavioral testing suites intended for shared use and located within the Animal Services Building-3. These suites provide individual enclosed spaces as operant chambers for NHP behavioral observations and anterooms for observers/computers to record responses to testing. NHPs are not housed in these rooms and there is no permanent equipment in the spaces. The number of studies that include assessment of various aspects of primate behaviors relevant to our animal models of disease has increased significantly since the current behavioral testing suites were constructed. In addition to adding new technologies for assessing behavior, we have also expanded the number of animal models under study, driven in part by our success in funding this type of research. However, as more projects are funded, both technological and physical enhancements are needed to enhance the research and improve NHP well being. In this application, we are proposing to upgrade facilities that were designed and built a decade ago for this purpose, but that were built according to a different set of standards because much or all of the experimental data were acquired using anesthetized monkeys. Presently, sound travels readily between rooms, and vocalization of primates that are awake in one room disrupts the focus of the test subjects in all other rooms. Our goal is to better accommodate non-anesthetized (awake) animals in cognitive testing, which is the type of assessment needed for our currently funded grants. We propose to modernize the procedures that use computer-based data acquisition systems by providing touch screens for chambers in every room, and through the addition of a computer server with software for data acquisition, data output, and initial analyses of the various cognitive tasks. We also plan to install a monitor in the external hallway at the suite entrance for the capture of all suite activities into a single split screen, to both enhance safety and limit interruptions. Our specific aims are to: (1) Add sound-dampening building materials to walls and insulation to ceilings in individual testing rooms; (2) Enhance ambiance by removing reflective surfaces and changing lighting to variable, non- fluorescent lights that include dimming devices; (3) Provide electrical signal disruption between observation rooms to assist in telemetry; and (4) Enhance the ability to perform and monitor remote data acquisition in the behavioral suites.