1. Overview
Small animal treadmills, also known as animal experimental treadmills, are designed for large and mice. The unique design allows one instrument to meet the general needs of large and mice. All parameter settings are done on the 7-inch touch screen on the instrument, which is easy and fast to operate. The touch screen not only makes it easy to set parameters, but also monitors the progress of the experiment, displays the experimental results, and provides the function of observing the data in real time so that the experimental protocol can be corrected in time.
The speed of the small animal treadmill can be set in a wide range, from 1 to 60 m min, and different speeds can be set according to the needs of the experiment. For mice, the recommended speed is between 10 18 m min and between 15 28 m min for rats. The treadmill platform has the function of uniform acceleration and deceleration, while the track can be manually tilted in the range of 0-45° to adapt to different experimental conditions. The instrument can automatically detect running speed, distance, number of shocks, and time to first shock, providing comprehensive experimental data.
Second, technical indicators
Display: 7 inch touch.
Touch screen resolution: 800x600
Number of channels: 6 channels.
Channel size: 500 90 160mm
Dimensions: 623 380 680mm
Applicable animals: universal for mice.
Speed adjustable range: 1-60m min
Acceleration mode: Uniform acceleration and deceleration.
Accuracy: 1mm min
Slope adjustment range: 0°-45°
Slope adjustment mode: electric adjustment.
Conditional signal: acousto-optic.
Stimulation method: DC pulse type.
Exciting action: 4-way jump changes without dead ends.
Shock Range: 00-5.0ma
Collected indicators: experimental time, exercise distance, number of electric shocks, time of first electric shock.
3. Experimental methods
3.1.Adaptive training
Taking rats as an example, Shanghai Xinsoft Information Technology Co., Ltd. XR-PT-10B small animal treadmill was used for adaptive training. It includes a constant speed flat slope training mode, a uniform speed multi-slope training mode and a multi-stage speed training mode.
3.1.1 Constant speed flat slope training mode
After 7 days of adaptive feeding, the rats are trained for 3-4 days, 1-3 times a day, with an interval of 5-10 min each time.
The initial speed of the treadmill is set to 20m min, the acceleration time is 2s, and the initial speed time is set to 15-30min.
The experimental time was set to 15-30min, and the current size was set to 06-0.8 mA, mouse 03-0.5ma。
It is considered that the adaptive training is successful when the rats continue to run at a speed of 20 m min for 30 min, and the rats that cannot be completed are eliminated.
3.1.2 Constant speed multi-slope training mode
Increase the slope during training day by day to increase the difficulty of training, such as 5 degrees on the first day, 10 degrees on the second day, and so on.
3.1.3. Multi-stage speed training mode
Set different speeds in stages, and the experimental time is 15-30min.
In a step-by-step manner, the speed is gradually increased so that the animal can adapt to the training rhythm of the treadmill more quickly.
3.2 .Testing phase
3.2.1. Homogeneous acceleration experiments
The trained mice were subjected to a uniform acceleration experiment for 15-30 minutes.
The initial speed is set to 40 m min, the acceleration time is set to 60 s, and the speed at the time of the first electric shock is recorded.
The average value was taken as the velocity reference value for the next mouse constant speed experiment.
3.2.2. Constant speed experiment
The speed of the treadmill movement can be set according to the speed reference value, and the slope of the treadmill can be appropriately increased for animal constant speed experiments.
Record the time of exhaustion and the distance traveled by the rats.