Radial arm mazes are often used to test working and reference memory in rodents. You can use a plain maze, or add manual or automatic guillontine door to create experiments as sophisticated as you need. EthoVision XT even allows you to fully automate your test by controlling external equipment within from the software!

• Calculate a wide range of parameters related to working and reference memory automatically.
• Control external equipment automatically, such as opening and closing of the maze’s doors.
• Let trials utomatically start and stop trials, for instance stop the trial when all baited arms are visited.
• Analyze behavior in relation to zones, such as total distance moved in a specific arm.
• Choose the size of the radial arm maze that fits the need of your research.
• Track animals with different fur markings in sequence or track animals in darkness.

Introduction
To assess working and reference memory in rodents, researchers often use the radial arm maze test. Depending on the experiment, one or more arms are baited with a food reward, and the number of visits to the different arms is measured. The radial arm maze can also be equipped with doors to conduct more complex experiments, such as when an animal has to visit a specific arm before the door to another arm (containing a food reward) is opened.

The radial arm mazes and video equipment we supply, in combination with our video tracking software, allow you to fully automate the radial arm maze test. EthoVision® XT tracks your animal while it explores the center and arms of the maze and measures all relevant parameters. The standard radial arm maze comes with manual guillotine doors. We also supply automatic guillotine doors that can be controlled by EthoVision XT, based on user-definable protocols.

How it works
The video camera, positioned above the radial arm maze, sends video images to the computer running EthoVision XT. The software tracks the animal’s path and measures a number of useful parameters, such as the total number of arm entries needed to obtain all food rewards. With EthoVision XT, you can easily define each arm and the center as separate zones of interest, or combine certain zones as cumulative zones. For example, combine the baited arms. You can use these zones in the protocols for hardware control (such as the doors of the maze), as well as for data selection and analysis.

Usually, the rodent is subjected to a training procedure before the actual experiment takes place. Then, the animal is placed in the center of the maze and visits to the arms are recorded. When investigating working memory, all arms are usually provided with a (food) reward and the animal should visit each arm only once. When used for assessing reference memory, only some of the arms are provided with a reward and the animal should only visit those baited arms. Visits to an arm more than once or visits to non-baited arms count as working memory or reference memory errors, respectively.

EthoVision XT’s Trial & Hardware Control allows you to define your own protocols, including Boolean operators, randomization functions, and conditions based on any parameter. This means that you can initiate and control interactions between your animal and the experimental set-up. For instance, turn on a light in arm number 1, and when the animal subsequently visits this arm, let EthoVision XT open the door of arm number 3, where a food reward will be present.

After the trials are recorded, EthoVision XT calculates a number of parameters that allow you to accurately assess memory in rodents. For example, compare the number of visits to the baited versus the non-baited arms, or measure how long it took an animal to complete the procedure and get his reward.