Rodent Behavior Core Facility

The RCHDR Rodent Behavior core facility is to provide NCCU investigators as well as researchers from outside NCCU opportunities to conduct experiments on a variety of behavioral tasks related to genetic, pharmacological and/or environmental models mimicking human disorders. The core laboratory provides capabilities to test potential compounds for therapeutic efficacy in a preclinical setting.

The core laboratory will be able to provide support to the RCHDR and other researchers in the following area of behavioral paradigm/tasks:

• Motor coordination and function
• Learning and memory
• Sensorimotor/pain tests
• Anxiety and depression-like behavior
• Social interaction and related behavior
• Abnormal repetitive behavior (autism-related)

Specifically, the core laboratory will be able to help researchers with the following:

• Training and necessary guidance for planning behavioral tests and select rodent models
• Helping to develop Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocols for the test
• Providing standard protocol/regimens to perform the behavioral tests (will also help to modify as required by the researcher)

All behavioral testing procedures will be conducted in compliance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals from NIH.

Note: The vendor for each item is marked in parentheses.

Motor Function Tests

• Open field activity and exploration, locomotion, rearing and inactive time measurement (Stoelting)
• Rotarod test for motor coordination and balance (Stoelting)
• Treadmill for monitoring of speed, distance run and time, mouse and rat (Columbus Instruments)
• Paw grip function (San Diego Instruments)

Learning and Memory Tests

• Spatial learning, memory plasticity and remote memory - Morris water maze (Stoelting)
• Radial arm mazes (spatial and working memory) (Stoelting)
• Hole board (exploratory and/or spatial memory) (Stoelting)
• Novel object recognition test (custom-made)
• Working/short term memory – Y-maze and T-maze
• Barnes maze (memory) (Maze Engineers)
• Touchscreen assays for learning and memory (Lafayette Instruments)

Sensorimotor/Pain Tests

• Thermal sensitivity test – hot plate apparatus

Anxiety and Depression-like Behavior Tests

• Light/dark environment exploration test (Maze Engineers)
• Elevated plus maze

Social Behavior/Interaction

• Social hierarchy-tube dominance test instrument (Maze Engineers)
• Social reward chamber (Maze Engineers)

Abnormal Repetitive Behavior (Autism-Related) Tests

• Rodent touch screen tests (same item also for memory) (Lafayette Instruments)

Additional Neuro Drug Discovery Equipment

• Digital dual new standard stereotaxic, rat and mouse, and accessories (Stoelting; Xu)