Passive Infrared Movement Detector, a New Equipment to Monitor Motor Activity of Small Rodents in Normal Cages

Activity patterns of small mammals have proved to be very sensitive to physiological states as well as environmental changes. The measurement of motor activity in normal cages without disturbing the animals is not yet possible or else, like videosystems, too expensive for routine use. Therefore we attempted to develop a new system with the following properties: easy to handle; suitable for standard macrolon cages with grid covers; possibility for continuous recordings; simultaneously monitoring of all cages in an assay; no interference between recording units of neighboring cages; reliability and accuracy that permits comparisons; dataprocessing on available computer systems; low price.