Push-in Head Restraining Apparatus for Intracranial Self Stimulation Tasks in Rats.
10.4196/kjpp.2014.18.2.103
- Author:
Mootaek ROH
1
;
Il Sung JANG
;
Maan Gee LEE
Author Information
1. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine and Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-911, Korea. mglee@knu.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Apparatus;
Head fixation;
Intra-cranial self-stimulation;
Operant conditioning;
Rat
- MeSH:
Animals;
Brain;
Conditioning, Operant;
Cues;
Dental Cements;
Electric Stimulation;
Fungi;
Head*;
Medial Forebrain Bundle;
Rats*;
Reward;
Self Stimulation*
- From:The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
2014;18(2):103-108
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Head restraining is an experimental technique that firmly secures the animal's head to a fixation apparatus for the precise control and sensing of behaviors. However, procedural and surgical difficulties and limitations have been obstructing the use of the technique in neurophysiological and behavioral experiments. Here, we propose a novel design of the head-restraining apparatus which is easy to develop and convenient for practical use. Head restraining procedure can be completed by sliding the head mounter, which is molded by dental cement during implantation surgery, into the port, which serves as matching guide rails for the mounter, of the fixation bar. So neither skull-attached plates nor screws for fixation are needed. We performed intracranial self stimulation experiment in rats using the newly designed device. Rats were habituated to acclimatize the head-restraint environment and trained to discriminate two spatially distinguished cues using a customized push-pull lever as an operandum. Direct electrical stimulation into the medial forebrain bundle served as reward. We confirmed that head restraining was stable throughout experiments and rats were able to learn to manipulate the lever after successful habituation. Our experimental framework might help precise control or sensing of behavior under head fixed rats using direct electrical brain stimulation as a reward.
