Publications
Mul, J.D.; Yi, C.-X.; van den Berg, S.A.A.; Ruiter, M.; Toonen, P.W.; van der Elst, M.C.J.; Voshol, P.J.; Ellenbroek, B.A.; Kalsbeek, A.; la Fleur, S.E.; Cuppen, E. (2010). Pmch expression during early development is critical for normal energy homeostasis. American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism, 298, 477-488.
For body core temperature measurements, adult pmch+/+ and pmch-/- rats were anaesthetized with isoflurane and equipped with a temperature-sensitive radio-transmitter (PhysioLinq) in the peritoneal cavity. After surgery, the rats were individually housed in test cages and allowed to recover for 5 days before measurements were started. The cages were placed on base plates connected to a receiver, which was connected to a PC-based data acquisition and analysis system (LinqControl). The system demodulated the signals and converted the raw telemetry data into degrees Celsius, and was configured to measure temperature every minute on a 24hr basis. A total of seven days were measured per animal.
Essen, G.J. van; Jansen, M.B. (2005). PhysioLinQ: remote measurement in socially housed animals. Proceedings of Measuring Behavior 2005, 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research (30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands), pp. 651-653.
PhysioLinq has been developed for monitoring heart rate, body temperature and animal activity, via acceleration, in group-housed animals. PhysioLinq differs from other commercial telemetry systems: the signal transmission is not continuous but intermitted. This means that the collected physiological data is pre-processed on board of the implant. At predefined time intervals, e.g. every minute, the accumulated data is transmitted to the receiver. This dramatically reduces the huge amount of redundant data that is normally produced by biomedical telemetry systems. Since every transmitter can be uniquely addressed by an identification code transmitted by the base station, a number of implants may be active at the same location. One base station is capable to monitor up to 20 animals simultaneously. This enables social interaction studies between animals. A battery-less power system has been developed to sustain long-duration experiments as well to decrease the total volume of the implants. Promising results have been achieved with prototypes. PhysioLinq’s key benefits are: small implants, battery-less transmitters (no refurbishing), measurement on group-housed animals, and integration with The Observer and EthoVision (Noldus Information Technology, The Netherlands) to analyze behavioral and physiological effects in social tests.