FARESHARE: An open-source apparatus for assessing drinking microstructure in socially housed rats

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Science
• Animal Models

Background:

• Social factors significantly influence alcohol consumption patterns.
• Preclinical research highlights the role of the social environment in alcohol intake.
• Tracking individual consumption in group-housed animals is challenging due to shared resources and expensive commercial solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an affordable, open-source system for precise measurement of fluid consumption in socially housed rats.
• To enable detailed analysis of alcohol drinking behavior, including microstructure and circadian patterns.
• To facilitate research on the impact of social context on alcohol use.

Main Methods:

• Development of FARESHARE, an RFID-based system with custom hardware for individual fluid consumption tracking.
• Individual measurement and timestamping of each rat's fluid intake and licking microstructure.
• Validation in a two-bottle-choice alcohol-drinking paradigm with group-housed female rats.

Main Results:

• FARESHARE successfully captured traditional measures like daily intake and preference.
• The system enabled analysis of circadian drinking patterns and licking microstructure.
• Individual variations in alcohol consumption among socially housed rats were accurately recorded.

Conclusions:

• FARESHARE provides a cost-effective and open-source solution for studying social influences on alcohol consumption in rats.
• This technology allows for detailed investigation of drinking behavior, including individual differences and temporal patterns.
• The system overcomes limitations of existing methods, advancing preclinical research on alcohol use.