Animal Social Dominance Experimental Analysis System

1、 Experimental Introduction

VisuTubeAnimal Social Dominance Experimental Analysis SystemSocial dominance tube test: It is an animal behavioral experimental method used to test whether animals (mice, rats) occupy a dominant or dominated position in a social group. The social hierarchy experiment, commonly known as the drill pipe experiment, is a current social hierarchy assessment experiment. Under normal circumstances, animals with higher social hierarchy will occupy the Tube and push the animals facing them out of the Tube, thus reflecting the high social hierarchy; It can be used in conjunction with optogenetic devices to activate specific brain regions in animals with lower social status, and the results are likely to flip. Therefore, the social dominance tube test is an interesting experiment.

2、 Experimental tools

VisuTubeAnimal Social Dominance Experimental Analysis SystemThe instrument is relatively simple, and the main experimental tools are a 30cm long and 3.5cm diameter resin glass cylindrical tube, with a 4cm long "public area" left in the middle. The "public area" is separated by two transparent and breathable resin glass plates that cannot allow animals to pass through. The software required for the experiment is the VisuTube system.

3、 Experimental method (for reference)）

During the experiment, two animals to be tested are placed in two sections of a cylindrical tube, with their heads facing towards the "common area". The "common area" in the tube is separated by a plate, and the two animals cannot touch each other, but they can smell each other's scent. Afterwards, open the two partitions of the 'public area' and allow the two animals to come into contact with each other. After a period of time, dominant animals will occupy the "public area" and drive away the dominated animals. Of course, sometimes there may be two animals with equal status, sharing the 'public area' equally.

4、 Introduction to VisuTube Software

VisuTube software utilizes its self-developed intelligent image recognition algorithm, which is different from traditional trajectory tracking algorithms. The intelligent image recognition algorithm classifies the overall morphology of animals, extracts features from all classifications, and forms a complete data backend. The judgment speed of feature extraction is millisecond level. During the formal experiment, each frame of the image is compared with the features in the database, and real-time data is generated.

VisuTube provides real-time online statistical analysis of the defensive and offensive strategies of animals during the experimental process. Various states, including: stalemate, forward, backward, attack, resistance, counterattack and other characteristic behaviors. If a third-party device (such as optogenetics, calcium imaging, etc.) is triggered, the trigger signal will also be synchronously marked and displayed in the timing diagram. Whether the animal's attack strategy will change will also be reflected in the complete timing diagram, which is very convenient for application.