ShuttleFlex - Active/Passive Avoidance System

The Shuttle Flex Active/Passive Avoidance System is a Pc based system for simultaneous study of up to 16 animals. The fully automated system controls the entire experiment, processes the animal response and records/stores the results on the hard drive for subsequent retrieval and future analysis. The researcher controls each facet of the experiment. The walls of the shuttle box are made of high-grade acrylic. The floor is made of stainless steel bars suitable for application of shock. The floor does not tilt and is not weight sensitive. The box is bisected by a vertical partition and with an opening in the middle (near the bottom). This opening permits the animal to travel freely from one side of the shuttle to the other. Each shuttle box contains a front and rear sensor containing 16 infrared light beams. These light beams determine positively which side the animal is on. Located on the lid of each shuttle box are two (2) light bulbs, which represents the light stimuli and two (2) beepers, which represent the sound stimuli. Beepers can be set for continuous sound. They are used to generate acoustic stimuli during each experiment. The system can be used for either mice or rats. The shock is of the “scrambled” type, which prevents the animals from finding a “no-shock” position on the bars. An easy to remove grid floor and a catch tray allows easy access for cleaning

ShuttleFlex software is a true 32-bit Win-application. The ShuttleFlex system implements the latest in software technology such as object-oriented design, high-resolution timers, multimedia components, and DIRECT-X components for high performance real time data acquisition. Up to 16 test chambers may be connected in a daisy chain fashion with each test chamber having scrambled foot shock, and 2 light/sound sources for the conditional stimuli positioned at the left and right sides. Light, sound, and shock intensities are all programmable via the ShuttleFlex software. Each test chamber is completely independent of any other test chamber, allowing different experiments to be conducted on each test chamber at the same time. Automatic detection of the subject delays the experiment start until placement in the test chamber (stagger start feature). Real-time status display shows each test chamber, indicating side, trial number, trial type, crossings, and current time (in 1/10th second intervals) allowing REMOTE MONITORING of the subjects. Active and Passive avoidance trials can be intermixed in the same experiment. The user can choose which method of side detection is used (if the ENTIRE or MAJORITY of the subjects' body needs to be on a given side). Stimulus is now defined as any combination of light, sound, pulsed light, and pulsed sound. The pulse frequency can also be specified. An optional diagnostics utility is included in the ShuttleFlex system called “ShutDiag”. ShutDiag allows the user to control all outputs such as shock, light, sound and an optional sliding door. ShutDiag also displays status of side indicators.

This product has been replaced by Fusion Shuttlebox - Active/Passive Avoidance.Fusion has all the features of ShuttleFlex as well as a host of additional capabilities, all at a lower cost.