Fear conditioning system

Background of fear conditioning experiments

• Fear conditioning is one of the most common methods to measure memory in rodents
• It exploits the Pavlovian association between an unpleasant unconditioned stimulus (shock) to a conditioned neutral stimulus (sound cue or context)
• The reaction of rodents, as predated animals, is to freeze (stay immobile) when exposed to fearful situations, such as a shock
• The ratio between the freezing with and without shock gives a measure of the memorization of the event and hence allows for a fast memory screening

Easy control, easy set up, easy expansion of Fear conditioning system

The Ugo Basile fear conditioning system comes complete with:

• Visible and IR lights
• Ventilated isolation cubicle
• Shocker and electrified cage
• High intensity speaker for frequency and white noise sounds
• IR camera, cables and lenses
• Color-coded easy connections with the onboard electronics
• Seamless to be expanded from 1 to 4 or more units for high throughput
• Detection of the Freezing is automated through Any-maze or any other software, as well as the control of lights, sounds, shocker, etc.

Features&benefits of Fear conditioning system from UGO Basile

• One USB cable connection: seamless installation and connection to PC
• Miniaturized USB-IR camera with 2 lenses (normal and fish-eye): camera mounted on the ceiling and working in any light conditioning and with any cage dimension
• Interchangeable contexts: easy to mount on the walls with different patterns
• IR and visible illumination: experiments can be run in light or darkness, also as a tool to alter the context
• Same software controls devices and analyses freezing: fast learning curve in building protocols and automatic detection of freezing
• Version for tethered animals: compatible with optogenetics and electrophysiology
• Multiple cage dimensions: most suitable dimension for rats or mice