Category
Maze Basics
How to Calibrate and Measure Electrical Current
June 16, 2023
For many of the automated products Maze Engineers offers, shock delivery is required. Shocks are applied using shock grids. To measure the shock current, you…
Guidelines to Rodent Enclosures and Cages
April 6, 2023
The guidelines for biomedical research involving rodents in the USA are set by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of Laboratory Animal…
Grip Strength Tests in Rodents
January 9, 2023
The grip strength test is performed by using the grip strength apparatus. It measures the motor functions of rodents when they grasp a specially designed pull bar assembly with a peak amount of force. The peak force applied is displayed on a digital display with precision force gauges. You can either manually record values or use the included software to do so automatically.
Maze Basics: Sleep Fragmentation Chambers
May 13, 2022
Sleep is essential for our body and mind to recharge, keeping the body healthy and alleviating diseases. Having a good night's sleep increases our energy and…
Top 10 Behavioral Mazes of 2019
December 12, 2019
Back in the 20th century, Dr. Watson, an American psychologist, argued with a group of friends, that animals do not need their vision or any other senses to…
Best Behavior Mazes: A comprehensive guide to animal testing
December 9, 2019
Behavioral testing in rodents is one of the necessary steps needed for the creation of new medication. Before any new drug becomes a product that can be used…
Maze Basics: Sucrose Preference Test
May 10, 2019
The sucrose preference test is a simple task that is used to assess motivation, depression (and anhedonia) and related emotional states in rodent models.[1] It…
Maze Basics: Light/Dark box
April 2, 2019
First introduced by the researchers Crawley and Goodwin in 1980,[1] the light/dark box consists of two chambers: a small, dark chamber which comprises…
Maze Basics: Lashley III
February 6, 2019
Introduction In searching for a localized storage point in the brain for learned information, termed an ‘‘engram,’’ Karl Lashley developed numerous rodent…
Maze Basics: Y Maze Test
November 1, 2018
Welcome to Maze Basics. Today we’ll talk about the Y Maze. The Y maze consists of three arms that are 120 degrees to each other in the shape of a capital Y.…
The Light Dark Box Test
September 10, 2018
Hi everyone and welcome back to the next installment of Maze Basic articles! Today we’ll be talking about the Light Dark Box test. This test consists of…
Maze Basics: Sociability Chamber
July 6, 2018
Welcome back to Maze Basics! Today, we’re going to talk about the Sociability Chamber. Make sure to check out the product page for more information, and check…
Maze Basics: T Maze
June 4, 2018
Welcome to Maze Engineers: Maze Basics. Today we’ll talk about the T maze. A Trial Run on the T Maze
Do-It-Yourself: How to Build a Rat Maze
May 29, 2018
Using Mazes to Understand Behavior Mazes have been used for decades as a way to study rodent behavior, particularly learning and memory, navigation, and…
Tail Suspension Test
February 21, 2018
Depression is one of the most studied psychological disorders and a lot of the behavioral work has been done in mice and rats. Before we explore a behavioral…
Maze Basics: Balance Beam Laboratory Apparatus
January 5, 2018
Welcome back to Maze Basics! Today, we’re going to talk about the balance beam test. In gymnastics, the balance beam was an elevated beam that you carefully…
Maze Basics: Hole Board Apparatus
November 14, 2017
Welcome to Maze Basics! Today, we’re going to talk about the hole board apparatus. The hole board test is interesting because it’s so versatile. We’ll talk…
Maze Basics: Conditioned Place Preference
October 5, 2017
The conditioned place preference chamber is a paradigm widely used to explore the effects of natural and pharmacological stimuli, taking advantage of learned…
Open Field Test: A Measure of Anxiety
August 21, 2017
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another installment of Maze Basics. Today, we’re going to talk about the Open Field test. The apparatus for the open field test is…
Learned Helplessness
August 13, 2017
Learned Helplessness And Depression Depression is an important disorder to study, especially in today’s society. It is chronic, life-threatening, and affects…
The Elevated Plus Maze: How it Works
May 29, 2017
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, as it affects around 18% of the population. Not only is it prevalent, but it’s also…
Maze Basic: Fear Conditioning
May 22, 2017
In the late 1890’s, Ivan Pavlov conducted his famous experiment, now known as Pavlov’s dogs. The idea behind the experiment was that his dogs salivated…
Elevated Plus Maze: Understanding the Basics
April 12, 2017
The Elevated Plus Maze is a widely used assay for anxious behavior in rodents. The assay leverages rodent’s natural behaviors to provide a useful experimental…
Hebb-Williams Maze
May 9, 2016
Content The Basics Specifications of the Arena How it works Acclimation Aquisition (A-F) Testing (12 sets) A Multi Use Test How Does The Scoring Works What You…
Zero Maze - What it is, and What it Does
February 10, 2016
More versatile, and less error-prone than the Elevated Plus Maze, the Zero Maze is nonetheless one of the simplest mazes out there. It's built to exploit just…
EthoVisionXT + the Open Field Test
January 14, 2016
Imagine you are dropped in the center of a wide open field. Would you explore the entire area? Or hunker down around the edges, fearing predators and other…
The Rotarod Test (For Mice)
November 5, 2015
Ask a neuroscientist what the rotarod test is useful for and the answer is likely to be straightforward: it’s a test of motor coordination. The rotarod test…
Safety in the Shadows: Using the Light/Dark Maze in Anxiety Research
October 14, 2015
Introduction As we’ve seen in previous studies, mice tend to avoid well-lit areas in favor of the dark. This predisposition is personified in the form of the…
Novel Object Recognition Tests: Objects in Maze may Seem Newer than they Appear
October 7, 2015
Introduction Memory tests have been used in psychological experiments since the beginning of it's birth as an experimental discipline. For human participants,…
Exploring the Y-Maze: A Test of Spatial Memory
June 19, 2015
Introduction People typically associate mazes with long, winding labyrinths that offer no hope of navigating, let alone escaping. That sounds scary and…
