Sensory function and reflex testing

The Animal Behaviour and Physiology Core facility was established in 2009 and provides a state-of-the-art facility equipped to serve as a time-efficient and cost-effective service for researchers in need of mouse and rat behavioural analyses.

Our tests

Test Name 

Equipment in Core 

Species Availability 

Maximum Animals Tested Simultaneously 

Acoustic Startle Response 
  • Hardware and Software: San Diego Instruments 

Mice and rats 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 

Buried Food Test 

Mice 

Up to 2 animals tested simultaneously. 

Olfactory Habituation- Dishabituation Test 

Mice 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 

Olfactory Odor Detection Preference Test 

Mice 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 

Prepulse Inhibition Test 
  • Hardware and Software: San Diego Instruments 

Mice and rats 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 

Slow Angled-Descent Forepaw Grasping (SLAG) test 
  • Hardware:  Handycam by Sony or FLIR High Frame Rate camera by Teledyne 

Mice 

One animal per trial. 

Tail Flick Test 
  • Hardware: Tail Flick Meter by Ugo Basile 

Mice 

One animal per trial. 

Contact us

Faculty of Medicine Animal Behaviour and Physiology Core

Room 2538, Roger Guindon Hall (RGH),
451 Smyth Road,
Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada

Office: 613-562-5800 Ext: 8621
Manager: Kerstin Ure, PhD
Email: [email protected]