Minibox: Custom solo or semi-group housing chambers for long term housing of rats with miniscopes
Nicholas J. Beacher,
Michael W. Wang,
Matthew C. Broomer,
Jessica Y. Kuo,
Da-Ting Lin
Affiliations
Nicholas J. Beacher
Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 333 Cassell Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA; Corresponding author.
Michael W. Wang
Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 333 Cassell Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Matthew C. Broomer
Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 333 Cassell Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Jessica Y. Kuo
University of California Davis Health, School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center-East Bay, 100 North Wiget Lane, Suite 150, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA
Da-Ting Lin
Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 333 Cassell Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA; The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
In this detailed procedure, we include open-source methodologies using ‘solidworks’ designs for creating solo or semi-group housing units for rats wearing miniscopes for long periods of time. Builds are optimized to preserve rat health and prevent hardware destruction. We include all prices and suggestions for purchasing strategies to reduce overall build-costs. • Chambers are optimized for long-term housing to protect rats wearing delicate headstages (e.g., miniscopes). • Designed to be low-cost, efficient supplement to operant chambers and provides numerous benefits to long-term miniscope imaging. The housing chambers can be augmented by installing cameras, commutators, or different types of floor grids depending on experimental conditions. • The chambers can also be secured to one another to create “rat-duplexes”, allowing experimenters to control the degree of social isolation.
