Imaging kit brings brain function into focus

The Mobile HomeCage eliminates the need for anaesthesia and thus preserves full physiological functioning of the brain. It provides a natural, tangible environment, which alleviates the stress experienced by rodents during experiments under standard head-fixation conditions.

Stress reduction helps reduce the run-up time to the start of experiments and improves their reproducibility.

The Mobile HomeCage is compact – it fits into most imaging set-ups without the need for modifications. Last but not least, it allows combining state-of-the-art neurophysiological techniques (such as in vivo two-photon microscopy, optogenetics, intrinsic optical imaging and in vivo patch-clamp) with behavioral paradigms in a single experiment.

Working closely with Neurotar, Prior has developed a fixing kit allowing seamless integration of the Mobile HomeCage with the Z-Deck.

The Z-Deck is an ultra-stable, height adjustable platform designed specifically for electrophysiology and microscopy applications in neuroscience, which is available with an integral motorised positioning stage, a manual positioning stage, or a fixed top plate. The Z-Deck is compatible with a wide range of microscopes.

The new fixing kit allows neuroscientists to combine the benefits offered by the Mobile HomeCagewith the stability, height adjustment and operational flexibility offered by the Z-Deck.

Importantly, the fixing kit allows the loading of the mouse either on or off the stage followed by a quick and precise re-positioning of the Mobile HomeCage onto the Z-Deck.

This means that the delicate operation of mouse-loading does not need to be performed around the microscope system itself.