TY - JOUR
T1 - A 3D-video-based computerized analysis of social and sexual interactions in rats
AU - Matsumoto, Jumpei
AU - Urakawa, Susumu
AU - Takamura, Yusaku
AU - Malcher-Lopes, Renato
AU - Hori, Etsuro
AU - Tomaz, Carlos
AU - Ono, Taketoshi
AU - Nishijo, Hisao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Matsumoto et al.
PY - 2013/10/30
Y1 - 2013/10/30
N2 - A large number of studies have analyzed social and sexual interactions between rodents in relation to neural activity. Computerized video analysis has been successfully used to detect numerous behaviors quickly and objectively; however, to date only 2D video recording has been used, which cannot determine the 3D locations of animals and encounters difficulties in tracking animals when they are overlapping, e.g., when mounting. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel 3D video analysis system for examining social and sexual interactions in rats. A 3D image was reconstructed by integrating images captured by multiple depth cameras at different viewpoints. The 3D positions of body parts of the rats were then estimated by fitting skeleton models of the rats to the 3D images using a physics-based fitting algorithm, and various behaviors were recognized based on the spatio-temporal patterns of the 3D movements of the body parts. Comparisons between the data collected by the 3D system and those by visual inspection indicated that this system could precisely estimate the 3D positions of body parts for 2 rats during social and sexual interactions with few manual interventions, and could compute the traces of the 2 animals even during mounting. We then analyzed the effects of AM-251 (a cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist) on male rat sexual behavior, and found that AM-251 decreased movements and trunk height before sexual behavior, but increased the duration of head-head contact during sexual behavior. These results demonstrate that the use of this 3D system in behavioral studies could open the door to new approaches for investigating the neuroscience of social and sexual behavior.
AB - A large number of studies have analyzed social and sexual interactions between rodents in relation to neural activity. Computerized video analysis has been successfully used to detect numerous behaviors quickly and objectively; however, to date only 2D video recording has been used, which cannot determine the 3D locations of animals and encounters difficulties in tracking animals when they are overlapping, e.g., when mounting. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel 3D video analysis system for examining social and sexual interactions in rats. A 3D image was reconstructed by integrating images captured by multiple depth cameras at different viewpoints. The 3D positions of body parts of the rats were then estimated by fitting skeleton models of the rats to the 3D images using a physics-based fitting algorithm, and various behaviors were recognized based on the spatio-temporal patterns of the 3D movements of the body parts. Comparisons between the data collected by the 3D system and those by visual inspection indicated that this system could precisely estimate the 3D positions of body parts for 2 rats during social and sexual interactions with few manual interventions, and could compute the traces of the 2 animals even during mounting. We then analyzed the effects of AM-251 (a cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist) on male rat sexual behavior, and found that AM-251 decreased movements and trunk height before sexual behavior, but increased the duration of head-head contact during sexual behavior. These results demonstrate that the use of this 3D system in behavioral studies could open the door to new approaches for investigating the neuroscience of social and sexual behavior.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902674594&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0078460
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0078460
M3 - 学術論文
C2 - 24205238
AN - SCOPUS:84902674594
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 8
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 10
M1 - e78460
ER -