Extended analysis of path data from mutant mice using the public domain software Wintrack

Animal tracking by means of videocameras has made considerable progress over the past several years and is now being used in a large number of studies. However, the precision and frequency at which xy path data can be recorded using personal computers contrast with the relative simplicity of the analyses commonly conducted with this type of data. In order to achieve more analytical power and flexibility in numerical and graphical path analysis, we have developed Wintrack, a Windows application that processes data from a variety of commercially available tracking systems. The application provides an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to increase ease and speed of standard analysis and graphical representation of data. A flexible scripting language allows the advanced user to extend the capabilities of the program by defining custom arenas and specialized parameters. For example, this permits to integrate path data with events recorded through the keyboard or to adapt the program for the processing of GPS data from outdoors experiments. A macro language allows for fully automated and database-controlled large-scale data analysis. We are using this feature to develop new analysis parameters for water maze and open-field experiments and to evaluate them retrospectively with reference data from several thousand mice tested in our laboratory. For noncommercial use, the software can be downloaded free of charge at www.dpwolfer.ch/wintrack.