Special cages designed to house up to four subjects are utilized in this test. Each cage is equipped with a CCD
camera placed directly above and captures images at 1 – 2 frames/sec. To reduce any interruptions during image
capture, both water bottle and food box are fixed on the sides of the cage. When only analyzing a single subject
within the cage, each image frame is converted to a binary image and the elliptical subject particle is tracked by
using the center of the particle. With this analysis, the software can measure the subject’s distance traveled every
minute. When two to four subjects are housed in the cage, each image is converted to a binary image and the
software calculates the difference of changed area from the previous image to measure the amount of activity.
Furthermore, to analyze whether the subjects come in contact with another during testing, the software
analyzes the number of particles in each image frame. This analysis shows when the subjects are in contact with
others or are separated. If a large capacity hard disk is connected to the computer, the software can also store
serial images during testing. The software automatically analyzes and stores all data files and images throughout
testing.
カメラと白色＆赤外線LEDを内蔵した天井を持つ専用の飼育ケージをご利用いただきます。撮影に邪魔にならないよう、餌箱と給水ビンはケージ側面に固定されます。飼育ケージに1匹飼育する場合には、被験体の1分毎の移動距離を算出します。飼育ケージに2～4匹飼育する場合には、各フレームにおける各被検体の塊をプロットし、前のフレームとの差分面積を算出します。この差分面積こそが群全体の活動量を表します。さらに被験体どうしがいくつの塊にわかれているのか、その塊の数を記録します。この指標から社会的行動を数値化することができます。1～8ケージ同時に、数日～1週間程度の連続した測定が可能です。
