ETHOWATCHER: validation of a tool for behavioral and video-tracking analysis in laboratory animals

  • Authors:

  • Carlos Fernando Crispim Junior;Cesar Nonato Pederiva;Ricardo Chessini Bose;Vitor Augusto Garcia;Cilene Lino-De-Oliveira;José Marino-Neto

  • Affiliations:

  • Institute of Biomedical Engineering, EEL-CTC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis SC, Brazil;Institute of Biomedical Engineering, EEL-CTC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis SC, Brazil;Institute of Biomedical Engineering, EEL-CTC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis SC, Brazil;Institute of Biomedical Engineering, EEL-CTC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis SC, Brazil;Department of Physiological Sciences, CCB, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis SC, Brazil;Institute of Biomedical Engineering, EEL-CTC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis SC, Brazil and Department of Physiological Sciences, CCB, Federal University of San ...

  • Venue:
  • Computers in Biology and Medicine
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

We present a software (ETHOWATCHER^(R)) developed to support ethography, object tracking and extraction of kinematic variables from digital video files of laboratory animals. The tracking module allows controlled segmentation of the target from the background, extracting image attributes used to calculate the distance traveled, orientation, length, area and a path graph of the experimental animal. The ethography module allows recording of catalog-based behaviors from environment or from video files continuously or frame-by-frame. The output reports duration, frequency and latency of each behavior and the sequence of events in a time-segmented format, set by the user. Validation tests were conducted on kinematic measurements and on the detection of known behavioral effects of drugs. This software is freely available at www.ethowatcher.ufsc.br.