The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze is a cross-maze that can be used for navigation experiments. It contains a central choice area with four alleys leading away from it at right angles to one another. Each of these alleys lead to a distinctive end box.
In addition, the end boxes are directly connected with one another by peripheral alleys. The openings to peripheral alleys are placed in the middle of the sides of each end box.
Mazeengineers offers the Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze.
The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze is used to study spatial navigation and learning in rodents. Rodents use both the intrinsic path integration and the extrinsic landmarks and directional cues to navigate through a spatial environment (Roberts et al., 2007). They can also use the geometric shape of the environment to navigate towards the goal (Cheng et al., 1986). This makes them able to use direct novel routes and shortcuts towards their goal by creating spatial maps in their brain (Tolman, Ritchie, & Kalish, 1992).
The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze is a behavioral apparatus to study the ability of rodents to spatially navigate towards their goal by using direct novel routes and shortcuts. It controls intrinsic and extrinsic cues and allows the subject to only use the internal geometry of the maze to travel from one end box to another. The maze is composed of four tunnels arranged in a cross shape with a central choice area. Each tunnel is provided with an end box which is interconnected with each other through peripheral tunnels. The subject uses its working and reference memory and creates novel routes to locate the food reward.
Other apparatuses used in the evaluation of spatial learning in rodents include the Continuous Angled T Maze, the Rat Circular Central Platform T Maze, the Elevated T Maze.
The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze is composed of four inner tunnels (45 cm length x 10 cm width x 12.5 cm high) arranged at a right angle to each other with a central choice area. At the end of each inner tunnel, there is an individual end box (35 cm length x 10 cm width x 12.5 cm high). The end walls of the four-goal boxes are painted white, black, vertically striped black and white, and horizontally striped black and white, respectively. The end wall of the end boxes also contains a circular opening to introduce food reward (2 cm diameter). The floor of each end boxes is made of different materials such as bumpy plastic, coarse grain sandpaper, smooth plastic, and fine grain sandpaper, respectively. Each end box is interconnected with peripheral tunnels (63.5 cm width x 10 cm width x 12.5 cm high), which creates a kite-shaped apparatus.
The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze is made of grey acrylic material and is placed on a square base (122 cm length x 122 cm width). The square base is placed on a rotating tray so that apparatus can be rotated in different orientations.
Thoroughly clean the apparatus before starting the trial to eliminate any residual stimuli. Properly light the apparatus. Surround the maze with ceiling-high black curtains. Conduct the task during the daytime. Food- deprive the subjects before conducting the trial. Conduct trials 5 to 6 days a week. A tracking and recording system such as the Noldus Ethovision XT can be used to assist with observations.
Firstly, pre-train the subject on a straight tunnel (similar to the tunnels of the Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze) provided with curtains at the end of each side. Place the subject in the tunnel. Gradually lower the curtain from each side. Now allow the subjects to push the curtains to reach the end boxes. Conduct one trial daily for five consecutive days.
Now pre-train the subjects on the Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze. Select one end box as a start box and one of the adjacent boxes connected with it through a peripheral tunnel as a destination box. Make other boxes inaccessible for the subject by keeping other doors closed. Carry the subject in a metal box covered with an opaque cover. Rotate the box five times. After rotations, remove the subject and drape it in a black colored cloth. Now place the subject in the start box. Allow it to settle for 5 s, then remove the door towards the destination box. When the rat removes the curtain from the entrance box, count it as a box entry. For working memory tasks, conduct four trails daily by changing start and destination boxes for six consecutive days. For reference memory task, conduct one trail daily for 30 days and keep only one box as a destination box in all trials. In a novel route and shortcut task, conduct phase 1 training in only three interconnected boxes without giving access to the fourth box. While conduct phase 2 training in the fourth box and its adjacent end box.
The task was performed in two phases. In phase 1, place a food reward in one of the end boxes/prefeeding box. Place the subject in it and allow it to eat the reward for 30 s. Remove the subject from the maze and place it back in its home cage for 1 hr. After 1 hr, change the maze orientation and place the subject in any of the end boxes other than the one in which the subject had previously eaten the reward (prefeeding box). After 5 s, remove the door of this box and allow the subject to reach the center of the maze and choose any of the three choice tunnels and enter their end boxes. Continue the trial until the subject reaches the prefeeding box with a reward. Once it reaches that box, allow it to eat the food reward and return it to its home cage. Conduct one trial per day for eight days by choosing other boxes as a prefeeding box.
In phase 2, conduct a new alley test by placing a food reward in one of the end box/prefeeding box. Place the subject in it and allow it to eat the reward for 30 s. Remove the subject from the maze and place it back to its home cage for 1 hr. After 1 hr, change the maze orientation and place the subject in the box adjacent to the prefeeding box. After 5 seconds, open both right, and the left doors joined with peripheral tunnels by keeping the door towards the center closed. Conduct one trail per day for eight days by choosing other boxes as a prefeeding box.
The task was performed in two phases. In phase 1, place a food reward in the prefeeding box, which has been previously used as a rewarded location in pretraining trails. Place the subject in this box and allow it to eat the reward for 30 s. Remove the subject from the maze and place it back to its home cage for 1 hr. After 1 hr, change the maze orientation and place the subject in the box adjacent to the prefeeding box. After 5 seconds, open both right, and the left doors joined with peripheral tunnels by keeping the door towards the center closed. Conduct one trail per day for twelve days with each possible prefeeding box chosen randomly.
In phase 2, place a food reward in the prefeeding box. Place the subject in this box and allow it to eat the reward for 30 s. Remove the subject from the maze and place it back to its home cage for 1 hr. After 1 hr, change the maze orientation and place the subject in any of the two boxes adjacent to the prefeeding box. After 5 seconds, open the door that opens to the center and the one that opens to the prefeeding box. Keep all the doors in the center closed except that leads to the prefeeding box. Allow the subject to choose either the peripheral tunnel (short route) or the central route (long route) to reach the destination/prefeeding box. Conduct one trial per day for twelve days with each possible start box chosen randomly.
Conduct the task in three phases. Conduct phase 1 training similar to the working memory phase1 except using three end boxes with their connecting tunnels. Conduct one trail per day for forty days. In phase 2, expose the subject to the fourth unexposed end box provided with a food reward. Allow the subject to eat the reward, then return it to its home cage for 15 min. Now place the subject in the box adjacent to the fourth unexposed goal box/prefeeding box provided with reward. Keep all the other doors closed while keeping the doors towards the prefeeding box open. Once the subject reaches the box and eats the rewards, remove it and place it in its home cage. Conduct one trial per day for ten days.
In phase 3, conduct two novel alley tests similar to working and reference memory tasks. In novel alley test one, the subject was fed in the phase 2 prefeeding box and then placed in the adjacent box on the right side, while in novel alley test 2 the subject was fed in the phase 2 prefeeding box and then placed in the adjacent box in the left side. Keep all the doors closed except for those leading towards the prefeeding box. After a novel alley test, conduct the internal alley test by feeding the subject in the end box other than phase 1 and phase 2 prefeeding box. After 15 minutes of rest, place the subject in the adjacent box by allowing access to just four internal tunnels and keeping the door closed towards the peripheral tunnels. After the inner tunnel test, conduct all tunnel tests by prefeeding the subject in one box and then placing it in the end box in front of the prefeed box. At this point, the subject has access to all the routes towards the prefeed box. Conduct one trail per day for eight days.
Roberts et al. (2007) investigated the rat’s ability to navigate towards their goal through novel direct routes and shortcuts using maze’s geometry. The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze was used for task performance. The subjects were grouped into the experimental and the control group. Three experiments were performed. In the 1st experiment, the subjects were trained and tested for rat’s working memory in using a novel route towards the goal. In the 2nd experiment, the subjects were trained and tested for rat’s reference memory in using a short route towards the goal. While in the 3rd experiment, the subjects were trained and tested using a novel route and shortcut task consisting of a novel tunnel, inner tunnel, and all tunnel tasks. The results of the study showed that the subjects chose the correct novel path or shortcut significantly above chance on some tests in reference and working memory task and significantly better than a control group in novel route and shortcut task. The results of this research concluded that rats exhibit the ability to spatially navigate by creating novel routes and shortcuts inside the maze based on limited experience with the interior geometry of the maze.
The Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze can control both external and internal cues, which aids in assessing the role of maze geometry in spatial navigation. The presence of doors between the tunnels and end boxes helps in creating novel paths for the subjects. The grey color of the apparatus helps in controlling external visual cues. Black curtains in each door control both visual and olfactory cues during task performance.
Pretraining of the subjects is required, which makes the Enclosed Tunnel Kite Maze a time-consuming task. The task performance is complex and tiresome. Extensive handling of subjects may cause stress to the subjects. Factors such as age, gender, and strain of the subject may also affect task performances.
Roberts, W. A., Cruz, C., & Tremblay, J. (2007). Rats take correct novel routes and shortcuts in an enclosed maze. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 33(2), 79–91. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.33.2.79
Cheng K. (1986). A purely geometric module in the rat’s spatial representation. Cognition, 23(2), 149–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(86)90041-7
Tolman, E. C., Ritchie, B. F., & Kalish, D. (1992). Studies in spatial learning. I. Orientation and the shortcut. 1946. Journal of experimental psychology. General, 121(4), 429–434. https://doi.org/10.1037//0096-3445.121.4.429
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