ePrints@IIScePrints@IISc Home | About | Browse | Latest Additions | Advanced Search | Contact | Help

Dbscorer: An open-source software for automated accurate analysis of rodent behavior in forced swim test and tail suspension test

Nandi, A and Virmani, G and Barve, A and Marathe, S (2021) Dbscorer: An open-source software for automated accurate analysis of rodent behavior in forced swim test and tail suspension test. In: eNeuro, 8 (6).

[img]
Preview
PDF
ene_8_6_2021.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0305-21.2021

Abstract

Forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) are commonly used behavioral tests for screening antidepressant drugs with a high predictive validity. These tests have also proved useful to assess the non-motor symptoms in the animal models of movement disorders such as Parkinson�s disease and Huntington�s dis-ease. Manual analysis of FST and TST is a time-consuming exercise and has large observer-to-observer vari-ability. Automation of behavioral analysis alleviates these concerns, but there are no easy-to-use open-source tools for such analysis. Here, we describe the development of Depression Behavior Scorer (DBscorer), an open-source program installable on Windows, with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), that helps in accurate quantification of immobility behavior in FST and TST from video analysis. Several calibration options allow customization of various parameters to suit the experimental requirements. Apart from the readout of time spent immobile, DBscorer also provides additional data and graphics of immobility/mobility states across time revealing the evolution of behavioral despair over the duration of the test and allows the analysis of additional parameters. Such comprehensive analysis allows a more nuanced understanding of the expression of behavioral despair in FST and TST. We believe that DBscorer would make analysis of behavior in FST and TST unbiased, automated and rapid, and hence prove to be helpful to the wider neuroscience community. © 2021, Society for Neuroscience. All rights reserved.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: eNeuro
Publisher: Society for Neuroscience
Additional Information: The copyright for this article belongs to Society for Neuroscience
Keywords: animal behavior; animal experiment; animal model; Article; automation; chronic mild unpredictable stress; controlled study; data analysis software; forced swim test; immobility; male; mouse; neuroscience; nonhuman; open source software; rodent; tail suspension test; videorecording
Department/Centre: Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Neuroscience
Date Deposited: 18 Nov 2021 11:43
Last Modified: 18 Nov 2021 11:43
URI: http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/70548

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item