The LT unit is similar in functionality to the AD unit, but double the size, making it suitable to measure the behaviour of rodents and larger fish, such as guppies. The LT unit also facilitates high throughput testing of smaller organisms (e.g., Drosophila, amphipods, juvenile zebrafish), as it can monitor up to eight well plates at one time.
Benefits
All the Zantiks units are built along the same principles, enabling high throughput and easy-to-run experiments. The benefits of choosing Zantiks include:
- An isolated and stable testing environment
- Networked and controlled via a web browser
- Live video view and real-time video recording
- Includes software, uses the Zanscript language for experiment specification
- Real-time results processing and output in .csv format
- Integrated camera, computer, experimental chamber and built-in stimuli
- Takes up little bench space
- Only requires 12V power and a network connection
Target studies
The Zantiks LT is suitable for:
- Tracking multiple animals, singly-housed, in individual arenas.
- up to 8 multiwell plates, or similar dishes, can be monitored simultaneously
- Tracking rodents / fish in experimental environments
- open field, Y-maze, conditioned place preference.
- Training rodents and fish with food reward in operant tasks
- discrimination, 5-choice, match to sample
Zantiks LT kit
Overall unit size (external, approx. mm): 560 width, 410 depth, 870 height
Cage size for rodents (internal, mm): 360 width, 270 depth, 300 height
Tank sizes for aquatic (internal, mm) to maximum of: 360 width, 270 depth, 300 height
Technical specification
| Integrated unit | Built-in stimuli | |
| Computer | Overhead lights | |
| Camera | Sound card (for audio/sound stimuli) | |
| Software | Screen - floor or lateral (for visual stimuli) | |
| Experimental chamber | Motor (operation of peristaltic pump or solid food delivery) |
Built-in stimuli
- Overhead illumination – colour, brightness and duration can be specified with ms accuracy.
- Can be used for ambient lighting, circadian rhythm entrainment and light flashes.
- Solid and liquid delivery - both solid and liquid food reward, as well as chemical liquid stimuli can be automated.
- Visual stimuli from built in screen - presented from a screen from underneath the tank. These can be specified with sizes, shapes, colours, locations and bitmaps.
- As they are displayed via a screen, response times and update times can be controlled up to the 60Hz refresh rate of the display.
- Audio stimuli - allows playback of *.wav files through a range of speaker options.
- Suitable for startles, predator cues, vocal calls of conspecifics, etc.
Included equipment
Relevant inserts for your chosen model organism
- Arena locators: creates consistent placement of multiwell plates, petri dishes, evaporating dishes etc. within the LT unit's tracking arena
- Rodent testing cages: experimental cage and operant task inserts
- food hopper insert & nose poke chambers
How to operate
Fully networked, Zantiks units are supplied with a router and controlled via a web browser, allowing users to operate them from their own phone, tablet, laptop, PC, Mac or Chromebook.
From the web browser on your device you can edit scripts, start and stop chosen services, view live video, download results (.csv files) via the Zantiks Control Console.
For details on how to use the Zantiks Control Console, see the Zantiks Control Console manual.
High-throughput studies are easy to conduct with multiple units. All units are operated via the same web browser and can run identical experiments consecutively.
Tracking and video recording
The LT unit can live track multiple animals that are housed singly in different arenas.
The scripts can be written to track the locomotion, distance travelled and time spent in different zones. They can also be written to record operant responses, such as a mouse's nose poke.
Full, partial and time lapse videos can all be created concurrently with data collection.
An eight-week old mouse in a Y-maze. The overlays in the video show, firstly that the unit was tracking the mouse in one arena (with a blue overlay), and secondly that there were four zones set up in the Y-maze, so that the mouse's movement between the arms of the Y-maze could be recorded.
