A spherical treadmill system to train head-fixed adult rats.

BACKGROUND: While spherical treadmills are widely used in mouse models, there are only a few experimental setups suitable for adult rats, and none of them include head-fixation.

NEW METHOD: We introduce a novel spherical treadmill apparatus for head-fixed rats that allows a wide repertory of natural responses. The rat is secured to a frame and placed on a freely rotating sphere. While being head-fixed, it can walk in any direction and perform different motor tasks.

COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: Instead of being air-lifted, which is acceptable for light animals, the treadmill is sustained by three spherical bearings ensuring a smooth rotation in any direction. Movement detection is accomplished using a video camera that registers a dot pattern plotted on the sphere.

RESULTS: Long Evans rats were trained to perform an auditory discrimination task in a Go/No-Go (walking/not-walking) paradigm. Animals were able to successfully discriminate between a 1 kHz and a 8 kHz auditory stimulus and execute the correct response, reaching the learning criterion (80% of correct responses) in approximately 20 training sessions.

CONCLUSIONS: Our system broadens the possibilities of head-fixation experiments in adult rats making them compatible with spatial navigation on a spherical treadmill.