| 摘要 |
A force plate actometer apparatus (30) is provided which is designed for the efficient and accurate testing of in vivo subjects (e.g., rats and mice) under the influence of drugs or other stimuli, and permits simultaneous determination of a number of attributes of movement of the subjects. The apparatus (30) includes a force plate (32), a plurality of transducers (46) supporting the plate (32), and a computer (40) coupled to the outputs of the transducers (46); an enclosure (38) is positioned above the plate (32) so as to confine the test subjects to a predetermined test area. Preferred software programs (4PLATES.PAS and OFFLINP.PAS) permit calculation and recording of test subject movement attributes derived from the variation over time of the location and/or magnitude of force exerted by the test subject on the plate (32). Such attributes may include the position of the subject on the plate, distance traveled over a defined period, the angle and direction of rotation of movement, spatial statistic, stereotypy score, tremor, wall rearing and rhythmic behaviors. |
