ANY-maze/Ugo Basile Fear Conditioning System

The ANY-maze/Ugo Basile Fear Conditioning System is a state-of-the-art system for accurately detecting immobility, a behavior commonly associated with fear. The new design includes a Touch-Screen Module which controls all variables including: sound, shock and light.

The ANY-maze controlled Fear Conditioning system is an ANY-maze software driven product. A Fear Conditioning specific version of the ANY-maze software is paired with and controls all of the components necessary to conduct Fear Conditioning experiments on mice and rat. Systems require a computer (not included).

The system uses the two most common fear conditioning paradigms:

Contextual Fear Conditioning

Acoustically-Cued Fear Conditioning

Fear conditioning is the method by which animals learn to fear new stimuli. It is a form of learning in which fear is associated with a particular neutral context (e.g. a room) or neutral stimulus (e.g. a tone). This can be done by pairing the neutral stimulus with an aversive stimulus (e.g. a shock). Eventually, the neutral stimulus alone can elicit the state of fear.

The detection of Freezing is automated and based on video analysis, by using the Any-Maze software (specific version for Fear Conditioning), which also controls the shocker and the sound generator.

Our Fear Conditioning system works also in total darkness. In the new model, all controls are managed by a single Electronic Unit with touch-screen.

The system includes the following:

Fear Conditioning Specific version of ANY-maze Behavioral Tracking Software

FireWire camera

Sound Generator

Shocker

Animal Enclosure with electrified grid floor

Sound-Attenuating Chamber with light and fan

Context Kit (to alter chamber’s color and texture)

The system does not include a computer but a computer is required

System Components

ANY-maze software (specific to the Fear Conditioning apparatus)

Immobility (fear-induced freezing) quantitatively measured using video-based detection

Automatically calculates parameters of interest such as:

Total freezing time

Number of freezing episodes

Duration of freeing episodes

Latency times between stimuli and freezing events

Shocker

Constant current (from 0.1 to 2.9 mA in 0.1 mA steps)

Sound Generator

Two Independent channels with adjustable frequency and intensity (100-40,000 Hz; 1-150 dB)

Two independent ‘white noise’ channels

ANY-maze driven

Speaker (and light) can be freely positioned within the sound-attenuation chamber

Enclosure with Electrified Grid Floor

17 x 17 x 25(h) cm

Convenient and innovative opening and debris tray

Sound-Attenuating Chamber

Minimizes travel of ultrasonic vocalizations and fear-related pheromones

Includes light and fan

Context Kit

Includes a set of removable contexts to alter the animal enclosure’s color and texture

Note: Macintosh Operating Systems are not supported.

ANY-maze/Ugo Basile Fear Conditioning System

ANY-maze/Ugo Basile Fear Conditioning System

Product Code: 153

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