The Behavioral Phenotyping Core at IU School of Medicine offers the following in vivo physiological and behavioral capabilities.
- Frailty index, grip strength, & negative geotaxis reflex
- Motor function (rotarod / wheel running coordination)
- Acoustic and tactile startle reactivity
- 24-hr home-cage core body temperature + activity (circadian rhythm integrity).
- 24-hr food / liquid intake patterns; taste preferences
- Catwalk (comprehensive gait analysis)
- Treadmill (fatigue assessment)
- Startle responsivity (dark vs enhanced light conditions)
- Social approach / withdrawal
- Stress-induced hyperthermia
- Open-field activity w/ light:dark preference
- Novelty neophobia
- Social dominance behavior
- Resident intruder aggression
- Tail suspension (‘behavioral despair’)
- Elevated plus maze
- Reward-seeking / compulsive drinking:
- Two-bottle access
- Drinking in the dark (DID)
- Conditioned Place Preference
- Dependence:
- Autonomic measurement of withdrawal
- Somatic endpoints [e.g. activity / circadian changes]
- Dysphoria / anhedonia [e.g. sucrose preference, immobility in tail suspension]
- Habituation / dishabituation of startle / open-field activity (nonassociative learning)
- Prepulse inhibition (sensorimotor gating)
- Spontaneous Y-maze alternation (working memory)
- Social recognition / learning (ethological memory processes)
- One-trial inhibitory avoidance (memory consolidation/retrieval)
- Active avoidance acquisition / Go, No-Go discrimination (mesolimbic DA, executive function)
- Active Place Avoidance (spatial learning & memory)
- Classical fear (tone/context) conditioning (associative learning; amygdala/hippocampal circuits)
- 5-choice serial reaction time test in a touchscreen chamber (attention, impulsivity, compulsivity)
- Paired Associates Learning in a touchscreen chamber (spacial learning and memory)
- Location Discrimination (attention)
- Volitional wheel running (motivational processes)
- Volitional 2-plate thermal place preference (hot-cold allodynia)
- Automated shock sensitivity thresholds using flinch response
- Daily injections via various routes of administration (IP/SC/Oral Gavage)
- Tissue collections (brain, blood/plasma, kidney, liver)
- Temperature Recordings (SC biosensors for daily temperature checks)