Behavior Testing Platform

Biocytogen has established a comprehensive behavioral testing platform to support preclinical efficacy studies in neuroscience and brain science research, covering motor and fatigue assessment (rotarod, grip strength, beam balance, etc.), anxiety-related evaluation (open field test, elevated plus maze , etc.), cognitive function testing (fear conditioning, Barnes maze, Y-maze, novel object recognition , etc.), and sensory perception measurement (von Frey test, hot-cold plate, scratching behavior , etc.). This integrated system enables in-depth characterization of neurological and psychiatric disease models, facilitating translational research and drug development.

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Behavior Testing Platform in Biocytogen
Motor & Sensory
Emotion & Cognition

Behavior Testing Platform in Biocytogen

Ethology is a discipline that studies how animals interact with their environment and other organisms, including communication, emotional expression, social interactions, learning, and reproduction, etc. Animal behavior experiments provide a comprehensive, real-time window into the physiological and psychological states of animals, allowing researchers to explore complex life phenomena such as cognition, emotion and movement. Disease animal models are widely used in research and are often combined with behavioral experiments to investigate pathogenesis, pharmacology, therapeutic efficacy, etc. As a result, animal behavior studies hold an irreplaceable role in biomedicine.

Biocytogen has built a behavioral testing platform that includes exercise and fatigue tests (rotarod, grip strength, beam balance), anxiety tests (open field, elevated maze), cognition tests (fear conditioning, Barnes maze, Y-maze, novel object recognition), and perception tests (von Frey, hot-cold plates, scratching). This platform supports preclinical efficacy studies in neuroscience and brain science.

Motor & Sensory

Behavioral Testing	Assessment	Core Index	Optional Index	Species	Status
Open field test	Ambulatory activity	Total distance Average speed	Immobility time Time of rapid movement	Mice Rat	Available
Rotarod test	Motor learning, coordination, balance, endurance	Latency to fall	Speed when mice fall	Mice Rat	Available
Grip strength test	Limb muscle strength	Grip strength	-	Mice Rat	Available
Clasping test	Motor deficits	Hindlimb Score	-	Mice	Available
Gait analysis	Locomotion and gait parameters	Gait parameters	-	Mice Rat	Available
Cylinder test	Locomotor asymmetry	Limb-use asymmetry score	-	Mice Rat	Under development
Pole test	Motor dysfunction	Time to turn Time to reach the ground	-	Mice	Available
Beam balance test	Motor balance	Number of slips Total time	-	Mice Rat	Under development
Von Frey test	Mechanical sensitivity	Withdraw threshold	-	Mice Rat	Available
Tail flick test	Thermal pain responses	Latency to pain behavior	-	Mice Rat	Available
Hot plate test	Thermal/cold pain responses	Latency to pain behavior	-	Mice Rat	Available

Introduction: Open field test (OFT) is a widely used assay to assess animal's spontaneous locomotor activity and exploratory behavior.
Species: Rat or mouse
Readout: Total distance, Average speed
Throughput: 90 animals per day

Bupropion induces increased activity in mice.
A, Bar graph shows total distance traveled in open field. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001, unpaired t-test compared with G1.
B, Bar graph shows average speed mice traveled in open field. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001, unpaired t-test compared with G1.

Introduction: Rotarod test is a widely used assay to evaluate animal's motor coordination, balance, and endurance.
Species: Rat or mouse
Readout: Latency to fall, Total distance
Throughput: 60 animals per day

B-Dmd KO mice exhibit motor impairments in rotarod test.
A, Line graph showing the latency to fall in mice across three trials; B, Bar graph summarizing the average latency to fall; C, Line graph showing the total distance traveled by mice across three trials; D, Bar graph summarizing the average total distance traveled. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. Significance was determined by two-way ANOVA test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Emotion & Cognition

Behavioral Testing	Assessment	Core Index	Optional Index	Species	Status
Open field test	Anxiety-like symptoms	Time in center Entries in center (%)	Distance in center (%) Number of feces	Mice Rat	Available
Elevated plus maze test	Anxiety-like symptoms	Total distance Time in open arms	Distance in open arms (%) Entries in open arms (%)	Mice Rat	Available
Light dark box test	Anxiety-like symptoms	Time in light box Latency to light box	Total distance Distance in light box (%)	Mice Rat	Under development
Tail suspension test	Depression-like symptoms	Immobility time	-	Mice	Available
Forced swimming test	Depression-like symptoms	Immobility time	Swimming time Climbing time	Mice Rat	Available
Sucrose preference test	Depression-like symptoms	Sucrose preference (%)	-	Mice Rat	Under development
Three-chamber social test	Sociability and social novelty	Sociability index Social novelty index	Time in chamber Time spent exploring	Mice	Available
Y-maze test	Spatial working memory	-	-	Mice	Available
Novel object recognition test	Recognition memory	-	-	Mice Rat	Available
Barnes maze test	Spatial learning and memory	-	-	Mice	Available
Morris water maze test	Spatial learning and memory	-	-	Mice Rat	Available
Fear conditioning test	Associative fear learning and memory	-	-	Mice	Available

Introduction: Elevated plus maze (EPM) is one of the most used tests for anxiety-like behaviors.
Species: Rat or mouse
Readout: Time in open arms, Open arms entries (%), Distance in open arms (%), Total distance
Throughput: 45 animals per day

Elevated plus maze of Aged and Young C57BL/6 mice. In the elevated plus maze (EPM), aged C57BL/6J mice (18 months, n=10) displayed significantly reduced distance moved, open-arm dwell time, and open-arm entries compared to young controls (8 weeks, n=10), indicating heightened anxiety-like behavior. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. Significance was determined by unpaired t-test. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Introduction: Tail Suspension Test (TST) is widely used to assess depression-like behavior in rodents by measuring the duration of immobility when they are suspended by their tails.
Species: Mouse
Readout: Immobility time
Throughput: 60 animals per day

Bupropion reduces the immobility time of mice in TST. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. Significance was determined by unpaired t-test. ***P < 0.001.

Behavior Testing Platform

Publication

Behavior Testing Platform in Biocytogen