Cylindrical treadmill for use in studying rodent behavior
Designed at HHMI's Janelia research campus by the jET team, this treadmill is relatively small and inexpensive compared to most existing designs. It is manually driven with an encoder which tracks the movement of the belt. The encoder does not have to be connected, unless it is desired to record or analyze the motion. Encoder interfaces are documented in a separate repository. The concept is derived from treadmills previously described by Chettih et al. DOI=10.3389/fnint.2011.00072 and Heiney et al. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2820-14.2014
It may be used for natural action (e.g., walking) for the mouse to take during an experiment instead of standing still. For example, some users let the mice walk normally on the treadmill and then play a tone the mouse associates with a trained response to see if the mouse will start or stop moving.
Advantages: Low friction, and more space for the mouse to stand on the treadmill.
Interface: These may be placed under an imaging microscope or other behavioral setup with a head-fixed rodent on it.
Construction: The treadmill is composed of 3D printed, and waterjet cut parts. There is a machined axle that can be made by a machine shop on a lathe with simple tooling. The wheel itself is foam that is cut to shape on a hot wire cutter.
See the individual part drawings for more detail on printing and fabricating each parts. See the attached assembly drawing for the BOM including purchased commercial items needed to complete the treadmill.
Operation: Researchers can physically mount the treadmill and place the mouse on top of it. Some training is required of the mouse.
Maintenance: The wheel should be cleaned regularly to keep debris from collecting on the surface.
Opportunity: Free to make for Non-Profit Research by downloading the design here or on Flintbox. See included hardware license.
Rights and designs available for Commercial License. Janelia makes no endorsements or guarantees of licensee products.
For inquiries, please contact [email protected] and reference this repository.
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