Knowledge Base

Data Management

Template Experiments

EthoVision contains a user-guided set-up with templates for several test paradigms. At the start of the program you can either start a brand-new experiment, re-use the settings from a previous experiment, or use the user-guided set-up to open an experiment template suited to a specific test (water maze, plus maze, etc.).

With these templates, many basic settings are pre-set, such as arena definition, detection settings, and parameters for analysis. You can fine-tune these settings to fit your specific needs.

PhenoTyper Experiments

If you use a PhenoTyper system for home cage monitoring or any other test you can select the PhenoTyper experiment option which optimizes the arena settings and detection settings for this application.

Live Mouse Tracker Experiments

If you use the Live Mouse Tracker (LMT) acquisition system (https://livemousetracker.org) and want to analyze these data in EthoVision you can select the LMT experiment option when creating a new experiment. This creates a modified version of a standard, multi-subject, multi-body point experiment, with predefined, permanent settings for LMT.

Setup

Good Laboratory Practice

For those conducting Quality Assurance experiments, particularly in environments adhering to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards, EthoVision offers specialized options to meet these rigorous requirements. This ensures that your experiments not only yield reliable data but also comply with industry standards for quality and reproducibility.

Flexibility

For researchers seeking maximum flexibility in their experimental design, the "New from scratch" option allows for complete customization of the experiment setup. This feature is ideal for innovative research that goes beyond standard protocols.

Experiment Options

• Tracking can be done live or from a video file.
• You can use digital cameras or analog cameras (but not a combination of the two).
• You can connect external data acquisition systems to EthoVision XT.
• Track in one or multiple arenas, with a max of 100 arenas.
• Track one or multiple subjects per arena, with a maximum of 16 subject roles.
• For mice, rats and zebrafish you can use center point tracking, or center of gravity, nose and tail base. For mice and rats you have the option between a contour-based technique or a deep learning based technique. You can also track based on color or color marker.
• Distance can be measured in millimeters, centimeters, meters, or inches.
• Time can be measured in milliseconds, seconds, minutes, or hours.
• Rotation can be measured in degrees, radians, gradians, or rotations.

Manual Scoring

The Manual Event Recorder is a built-in coding system which allows you to define a list of behaviors that you can score manually during and after data acquisition (live or offline).

• Score live.
• Score (also) offline, to score at a lower or faster playback speed. You can also edit scored events.

Types of behaviors:

• Start-stop behaviors – behaviors that are independent from each other.
• Point events – behaviors without a duration.
• Mutually exclusive behaviors – behaviors grouped in such a way that activating one behavior automatically stops the other behavior.

You can define different behaviors and score those categories with keyboard keys or with the mouse. Without key codes defined, you can manually score events using the mouse.

Arena Settings

The arena is the region in the video image where the animal is tracked. You can define:

• The arena(s)
• Subdivisions of the arena (zones)
• Cumulative zones (define individual smaller zones to be taken into account for cumulative analysis)
• Hidden zones (used for shelters) and entry zones to analyze entries/exits
• Zones organized in layers, so you can define and analyze zones that overlap
• Points of interest

You can define an unlimited number of zones in an arena, and create zones of any shape. Calibration of your arena will allow EthoVision to calculate parameters such as velocity and distances to certain points.

If you are tracking in multiple arenas, you can copy and paste the settings from one arena to the other.

Multiple Arena Definition

When your experiment contains multiple arenas — for instance a group of open fields or home cages — you can use the multiple arena set-up functionality. This means that you do not need to draw each arena separately. EthoVision allows you to easily rotate, scale, transpose, resize, and reposition the series of arenas simultaneously.

Arena/Zone Auto-Subdivision

This option allows the automated subdivision of circular and rectangular arenas in multiple equal zones, including auto-labeling of these subdivisions. For example, it can be used to divide a water maze into quadrants, simplifying the process of analyzing behavior across different sections of the arena.

Multi Camera Set-Up

In EthoVision you can combine the input of multiple cameras. This way you can track from multiple arenas without the need to place them all under one camera.

Trial Control Options

You can program EthoVision to automatically start and stop tracking, based on any of the parameters offered by EthoVision. This feature also includes an external command option, which allows you to start another computer program when a condition becomes true. For example, present a visual stimulus on a computer screen or play a sound file when the animal enters a particular zone.

With Trial & Hardware Control, you can define complete test protocols to initiate and control interactions between your animals and external sensor and stimuli devices.

Real-time analysis of any of the parameters of EthoVision allows you to control complete test protocols based on your animal's behavior.

You can use it for complex learning tasks such as the radial arm maze with automatically controlled doors and food delivery using pellet dispensers. Attach and control all standard (TTL-based) hardware.

If you are using multiple arenas, conditions are applied to each arena individually.

Tracking Methods

Body Point Estimate for 1 Animal Per Arena

The tracking method specifies how the body points are estimated, once the subject is detected. Depending on how many subjects and body points you specify in the Experiment Settings, one or more methods for tracking of body points are available.

Deep Learning Based Body Point Detection

When using this technique a new algorithm based on a convolutional neural network finds the nose and tail-base points of rodents with high accuracy and few or no nose-tail swaps.

Source: EthoVision XT 19 Technical Specifications - Rodent, Noldus Information Technology