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(b) Position of the camera, test chamber, and experimenter
within the testing room should be identical for each animal
and on each day of a given procedure.
(c) Minimize extraneous noise that could potentially alter the
animals' behavior (such as clicking or beeping of stopwatches:
(cell phones have convenient silent stopwatch operation).
(d) Variables associated with the testing room should be con-
trolled such as lighting, nearby noise and room odor.
5. Reduce side bias. For procedures that test two animals at a
time, run animals of different treatment groups together and
alternate sides or chambers in which animals of a given group
are tested in order to minimize any bias due to the chambers
or position in the room. Be sure to keep the side or chamber
for a given animal the same on each day of the procedure.
6. For multiday tests, conduct the sessions at the same time on
each day.
7. In tests that require some level of activity or exploration such
as hyponeophagia tests or object recognition, note that the
room lighting can affect the degree to which the animal
explores. Bright lighting can increase anxiety in rodents and
may inhibit activity and/or exploration.
8. It is important to ensure that the bottles do not drip. The mice
will approach any drips on the cage floor with a relatively short
latency and the data will be not useful.
9. For novel object recognition, counterbalance the sides the
familiar and novel objects are placed on for the novel object
test in order to minimize any side bias.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Shannon Gourley and Monica Sathyanesan for their
assistance in conducting the novel object recognition test. This
work is supported by USHPS grant MH 078132 and the
Connecticut Mental Health Center.
References
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2. Konishi Y et al (1993) Trophic effect of eryth-
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central cholinergic neurons in vitro and in vivo.
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3. Morishita E et al (1997) Erythropoietin recep-
tor is expressed in rat hippocampal and cere-
bral cortical neurons, and erythropoietin
prevents in vitro glutamate-induced neuronal
death. Neuroscience 76(1):105-116
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