Animal Behavior Research Blog Posts

Assessing motor outcome in rats with peripheral nerve injury

At LBI Trauma, CatWalk XT is one of the most important tools to evaluate functional recovery in different animal models. Read more about what they found to be key factors when studying motor performance in rats with femoral nerve injury.

Antidepressants during pregnancy: effects on offspring social behavior

Many depressed women struggle with this: can I use antidepressants during pregnancy? The lab of Jocelien Olivier studies the effects of SSRI's on offspring behavior in an animal model.

How bank voles take the future into account

Bank voles are often exposed to predator odor and alarm pheromones. This perceived predation risk may cause cross-generational behavior changes, which seem to be context-dependent on their in utero exposure.

Livestock Research: Tracking sheep to learn their behavior

We recently installed TrackLab at Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK, for the tracking and detailed analysis of the spatial behavior of sheep.

Non-invasive home cage testing of epilepsy in mice

Epilepsy is more than seizures; behavioral changes that occur in between seizures are rarely assessed. A new home cage study from the Baylor College of Medicine aims to change this.

Traumatic Brain Injury: effects on the brain and motor coordination

Do you think of wearing a helmet while skiing, cycling or horseback riding? Read more about how the brain is affected after the head injury and how you can examine locomotion in a mouse model with TBI.

How does heat stress affect the health and welfare of dairy cows?

When environmental temperatures rise, livestock animals, such as dairy cows, are vulnerable to heat stress. Researchers Polsky and von Keyserlingk reviewed how heat stress affects animal productivity, health, and welfare.

Testing motor coordination in a mouse model with muscular dystrophy

Muscular Dystrophy is a broad group of diseases recognized by the loss of muscle mass and strenght. Researchers tried to discover if gene therapy strategies can help with reducing symptoms.

Decreased learning abilities in diabetic rats: Silymarin to the rescue

Silymarin is a substance that works as an antioxidant, is anti-inflammatory and increases BDNF levels. After supplementing silymarin to diabetic rats, typical diabetes symptoms were greatly improved.

Can caffeine prevent Alzheimer's?

What is the most popular drug in the world? It’s not alcohol, cannabis, or cocaine, but something most of us start with each day. Coffee; or, more specifically: caffeine.

Depressed with a failing reward system: social stress disrupts brain waves

Chronic social stress has a huge impact on well-being. Gamma oscillations have been found to be an electrophysiological link between social stress and reward processing.

User Meeting: exploring external data integration

A few months ago, we organized our very first User Meeting about EthoVision XT and external data integration! The meeting included interesting talks, discussions, and demonstrations with a diverse group of participants.