5CSRT Nose Poke Application for Rats

This version of the 5CSRT task is designed to be used with a Rat 5/9 Hole Nose Poke Test Chamber connected to a non-latched ABET 2G Interface and ABET II Standard Software. It is a test of sustained and selective attention and reaction time, which has been well characterized in the rat and mouse to show clinical validity in a variety of settings. Clinical models showing impairment in this area include Alzheimer’s, Depression, Huntington’s, Schizophrenia, ADHD and OCD. The neural systems that have been implicated include Prefrontal cortex, basal forebrain, cholinergic (accuracy), serotonin (impulsivity), noradrenalin (distraction), and dopamine (motivation). It is one of the oldest of operant based tests in mice designed to exploit molecular genetics methods in unraveling the genetic contribution to complex psychological and behavioral processes.

The standard application package, provided by Lafayette Instrument Company and Campden Instruments Ltd., includes nine separate schedules to test the hardware, train the animal, and run basic and advanced forms of the 5CSRT Task. The individually written schedules are written with multiple user set options and include extensive data analysis and reporting.