Fear learning is a process where individuals associate a neutral stimulus (like a tone or light) with an aversive event (like a mild shock or unpleasant noise). This creates a fear response whenever the neutral stimulus is presented. Extinction learning happens when the fear-evoking stimulus is repeatedly presented without the aversive event. Over time, this weakens the fear response and creates a new “safety” memory that competes with the fear memory.
Non clinical studies of fear and extinction processes contribute to our understanding of general learning processes, stress responses, and decision-making under emotional conditions. They provide insights into how the brain adapts to threatening and safe environments.
Telemetry is a powerful tool used in non-clinical fear and extinction learning studies to provide continuous, real-time monitoring of physiological parameters in freely moving animals. This technology is particularly valuable for studying fear and extinction processes because it can be synchronized with behavioral observations to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between physiological, neural, and behavioral responses.
Our digital telemetry systems manage up to 32 single or group-housed subjects with optional synchronized video, and are able to provide the following outcomes:
EEG : to track brain activity and synaptic plasticity in regions like the hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex during fear learning and extinction.
EMG and activity : to measure muscle tension and freezing behaviors to assess fear intensity and extinction progress.
ECG : to record heart rate and autonomic nervous system changes, linked to emotional arousal and fear responses.
Temperature : to assess physiological stress through changes in body temperature.
easyTEL+ implantable telemetry can acquire multiple biopotentials, temperature, activity, and respiratory rate in small and large animals. It can also be combined with whole body plethysmography for cardiorespiratory measurements.
Implantable telemetry enables long-term studies of fear and extinction, including memory retention tests, where the conditioned stimulus is presented after a delay to assess the durability of extinction learning.
rodentPACK head-mounted telemetry acquires up to 4 four low-noise biopotentials (cortical or penetrating EEG, EMG, ECG, EOG) as well as activity from rodents 50g or more. It can also be combined with whole body plethysmography for cardiorespiratory measurements.
Externalized transmitters can be reused across subjects, cohorts, and studies, reducing start-up costs for behavioral studies requiring a large subject pool. The custom design of our transmitters (electrodes, electrode wires, polarity) combined with user configurable sampling rate, resolution, and gain, provide users with various study design options. Easily exchangeable batteries last for up to 150 hours of continuous recordings.
eegPACK system collects neurological and activity changes in large animals without surgical implantation of the telemeter.
Subjects are equipped with an external transmitter housed in a jacket or a helmet with surface leads paced on the scalp. It provides the ability to reuse transmitters across subjects, cohorts, and/or studies for a cost-effective alternative to implantable telemetry.
eegPACK system can collect up to 4 biopotentials (EEG, EOG, ECG, EMG) in addition to activity recording. Physiological measurements are captured non-invasively and wirelessly transmitted by Bluetooth or radio frequency, to a receiver.
In non-clinical research involving animal models, whole body plethysmography plays a crucial role in evaluating how fear and its extinction affect breathing patterns. Fear and anxiety typically cause changes in breathing, such as increased rate or irregularity. Monitoring respiration helps researchers measure the physiological impact of fear and stress on the respiratory system.
vivoFlow allows for repeated measurements in the same subjects without causing stress or discomfort. It provides baseline data on normal respiratory function (tidal volume, respiratory rate, and airflow patterns), under relaxed conditions before introducing any stimuli, and then enables the continuous tracking of respiratory changes during experimental procedures.
The easySYNC device is particularly useful in behavioral studies, as it allows the Noldus EthoVision behavior tracking software to externally trigger EMKA’s IOX2 acquisition software.
Tracking and analysis of the behavior, movement, and activity of an animal is done in EthoVision while synchronized physiological data from EMKA’s easyTEL+ or rodentPACK wireless telemetry systems is collected in the IOX data acquisition software.
* Transistor-Transistor Logic
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