Phobos: A novel software for recording rodents' behavior during the thigmotaxis and the elevated plus-maze test

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Science
• Animal Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Quantifying fear and anxiety in rodents is crucial for understanding experimental impacts.
• The elevated plus-maze and open field tests are standard behavioral procedures for anxiety assessment.
• Manual recording and analysis of rodent behavior in these tests can be laborious and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce Phobos, a novel, effective, and simple application for recording rodent behavior.
• To streamline the process of data collection and analysis for the elevated plus-maze and open field tests.
• To provide researchers with a tool that facilitates behavioral studies.

Main Methods:

• Phobos application development for recording rodent positions during behavioral tests.
• Utilizing Phobos for simultaneous analysis of behavior in 5-minute intervals.
• Demonstrating Phobos's efficiency using data from elevated plus-maze and open field tests.

Main Results:

• Phobos generates all basic locomotor-related behavioral results immediately after manual position recording.
• The application enables simultaneous analysis of experiments in 5-minute periods.
• Results from the elevated plus-maze and open field tests show distinct behavioral patterns, validating Phobos's capability.
• Phobos simplifies data recording and analysis, reducing experimenter workload.

Conclusions:

• Phobos is an efficient and user-friendly tool for behavioral studies involving rodents.
• The application automates the calculation of key locomotor parameters, saving time and effort.
• Phobos enhances the ease and speed of conducting behavioral research on anxiety in rodents.