What is the Fear Conditioning System?

A sound-attenuating cubicle with a shock grid cage, a speaker, dual visible and IR light, and a B/W USB camera, all on one USB connection. The animal learns to link a mild foot shock to a tone or to the cage context, and freezing is scored automatically in ANY-maze.

Cued and contextual protocols run on the same hardware. Swap the wall inserts and floor, change the light, and the context changes. One PC runs up to 16 cubicles.

Key Features

• Constant-current shock, 0.1 to 3 mA in 0.1 mA steps
• Tone 500 Hz to 18 kHz up to 100 dB, white noise up to 77 dB
• Dimmable visible (6500 K) and IR (850 nm) light, for testing in light or dark
• Interchangeable patterned wall contexts
• ANY-maze controls the hardware and scores freezing in the same software
• Guide tube and optional swivel holder for tethered animals: optogenetics, electrophysiology, miniscope work
• Active, silent ventilation
• TTL inputs and outputs for synchronisation
• Upgrade path to Startle/PPI on the same cubicle and electronics

Cages

Rat and mouse cages, tethered or not, each with an electrified grid, 3 floors and 3 contexts. Also a mouse XL cage with a 90° door, an observational cage for observational fear learning, and an operant cage (49603) with nose pokes and a pellet dispenser.

Before ordering

ANY-maze 7 or later is required. The fear-conditioning licence (60000-FC) scores freezing and nothing else. A lab that will also run mazes or open field on the same PC is better off with the full licence (60000) from the start.

How many animals a day does the protocol need to run?