45100 - Lickometer Vogel Test

The Ugo Basile Lickometer - Vogel Test is a versatile system that can function as a simple software-based lickometer or to run Drinking-Conflict experiments and assess the anxiolytic effect of drugs.

In the Drinking-Conflict Vogel paradigm a water deprived animal is exposed to a lickometer and licking events are coupled to electric shocks. Being the animal is in a motivationally conflicting situation, his licking behavior is affected by anxiety and anxiolytic drugs.

The Ugo Basile Lickometer - Vogel Test is a versatile system that can function as a simple software-based lickometer or to run Drinking-Conflict experiments and assess the anxiolytic effect of drugs.

In the Drinking-Conflict Vogel paradigm a water deprived animal is exposed to a lickometer and the licking events are coupled to electric shocks. Being the animal is in a motivationally conflicting situation, his licking behavior is affected by anxiety and anxiolytic drugs.

The Drinking Conflict Vogel test usually consists of three phases:

- Initial wait (triggered by the first licking event)

- Shock phase (the sipper is electrified)

- No-shock phase (no shock is associated to drinking)

For each phase of the experiment, the number and the timing of licking events is recorded and graphically displayed. The alternation between shock and no-shock phase can be based on TIME or N° OF LICKS, according to the user experimental paradigm. When no shock is delivered, the system can be simply used as a software-driven lickometer.

The duration of each phase is user-defined for each cage based either on time or on the animal behaviour (i.e. the sipper is electrified after a defined number of licking events have occurred).  At the end of the test a report will summarize the results; these results can be automatically printed and exported into a spreadsheet.