The VBS consists of an open area connected by two tunnels to a burrow system. The burrow system is made of infrared transparent black plastic and consists of a large chamber, a small chamber and a tunnel system. A grid of 32 IDsensors is placed below the VBS in order to automatically determine individual animal positions. An infrared camera above the VBS regularly records video sequences.
Throughout the trials, the burrow system remaines in the dark. Food and water are available in the open area only. A PhenoSoft module is used to identify individuals in the videos.
For example six rats were housed in the VBS for seven days. The behaviours expressed by the animals were manually scored on the videos of the last two days of the VBS during the first 4 h of each dark and light phase.
The activity (distance travelled) and the place preference are automatically calculated. The time spent in the open area of the VBS is easily calculated.
Visible Burrow System (VBS) housing
Alonso, L., Peeva, P., Ramos-Prats, A., Alenina, N., Winter, Y., & Rivalan, M. (2020). Inter-individual and inter-strain differences in cognitive and social abilities of Dark Agouti and Wistar Han rats. Behavioural brain research, 377, 112188.
Visible Burrow System (VBS) housing (3D representation)
Alonso, L., Peeva, P., Ramos-Prats, A., Alenina, N., Winter, Y., & Rivalan, M. (2020). Inter-individual and inter-strain differences in cognitive and social abilities of Dark Agouti and Wistar Han rats. Behavioural brain research, 377, 112188.
