Equipment for measurement of ultrasonic vocalizations and visual ability in rodents

我们建议购买一个新的超声波发声（USV）记录系统，以便我们可以记录，测量和分析鼠标的通信。超声发声的差异是小鼠社会行为的重要组成部分，通过分析这些差异，我们希望进一步研究基因突变对小鼠行为的影响。我们将能够进一步分析母鼠与幼鼠之间的互动以及成年老鼠之间的社会互动，以及个体与群体住房的影响。超声波发声的测量也将让我们了解我们在小鼠模型中使用的各种药物的功效。超声波发声为幼鼠提供了一种痛苦的衡量标准，也被用作成年鼠社会交流的衡量标准。此外，我们建议购买一个OptoMotry系统，该系统能够测量小鼠的视觉能力。OptoMotry系统对于评估和理解人类疾病小鼠模型中感觉、运动、社会和认知功能的遗传和环境决定因素是不可或缺的，因为它可以提供快速、定量和可重复的视觉行为测量，而无需先前的行为训练。对小鼠视觉能力的评估很重要，不仅因为它提供了有关小鼠视觉能力的信息，还因为许多高级认知功能的行为测试依赖于视觉线索。因此，通过使用OptoMotry系统测量视觉能力，我们将能够评估基因突变对视觉行为的影响，并确定依赖视觉线索的其他行为任务的缺陷是否可以用视觉障碍来解释。由于许多转基因小鼠使用的背景株具有视网膜变性或患有与年龄相关的失明，因此转基因小鼠的准确表型对于发现转基因小鼠行为功能障碍的神经生物学机制至关重要。

We propose to purchase a new ultrasonic vocalization (USV) recording system, so that we can record, measure and analyze mouse communication. Differences in ultrasonic vocalizations are an important part of mouse social behavior, and by analyzing these we hope to further examine the effects of genetic mutations on mouse behavior. We will be able to further analyze maternal-pup interactions as well as social interactions between adult mice, and the effects of individual versus group housing. Measurement of ultrasonic vocalizations will also give us insight into the efficacy of various drugs we are using in our mouse models. Ultrasonic vocalizations provide a measure of distress in infant mice and are used as a measure of social communication in adults. In addition, we propose to purchase an OptoMotry system, which is capable of measuring visual ability in mice. The OptoMotry system is integral for evaluating and understanding the genetic and environmental determinants of sensory, motor, social and cognitive functions in mouse models of human disease as it can provide rapid, quantitative and repeatable measures of visual behavior that require no previous behavioral training. The assessment of visual abilities in the mouse is important not only because it provides information regarding the visual capabilities of the mouse, but also because many behavioral tests of higher cognitive function rely on visual cues. Thus, by measuring visual ability using the OptoMotry system, we will be able to evaluate the effects of genetic mutations on visual behavior and determine if deficits in other behavioral tasks that rely on visual cues can be explained by visual impairment. Since many transgenic mice use background strains that have retinal degeneration or suffer from age-related blindness, the accurate phenotyping of transgenic mice is essential for discovering the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the behavioural dysfunctions of genetically modified mice.