Apparatus used to determine cns effect altration drugs.

2. INTRODUCTION;
 Y Maze Spontaneous Alternation is a
behavioral test for measuring the
willingness of rodents to explore new
environments.
 Rodents typically prefer to investigate a
new arm of the maze rather than returning
to one that was previously visited.
 Many parts of the brain including the
hippocampus, septum, basal forebrain, and
prefrontal cortex--are involved in this task.
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3. DIMENSIONS;
 Two different Y-Maze apparatuses are available
to measure the Spontaneous Alternation.
 The large Y-Maze has 3 equal arms of 40 cm
length, 8 cm width, and 15 cm height, attached
at 120 degree angles.
 The small Y-Maze has 2 equal arms and 1
differing arm separated by 120 degree angles.
 The 2 equal arms have a dimension of 15.24 cm
length, 12.7 cm height, and 7.62 cm width; the 1
longer arm has dimensions of 20.32 cm length
12.7 cm height, and 7.62 cm width.
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4. MATERIALS REQUIRED;
 Subjects: any strain of rats or mice. No prior training is
required, though subjects should be acclimated to testing
environment and experimenter before testing.
 Apparatus: Y-shaped maze with three opaque arms .
 Overhead camera: mounted to ceiling directly above
apparatus.
 Software: automated tracking system (ex. Etho Vision).
 Privacy blinds: placed around apparatus to eliminate
external room cues.
 Standing lamps with white light bulbs (4): placed at corners
outside privacy blinds pointed away from apparatus.
 Light meter: used to measure illumination in arms of
apparatus.
 Virkon used between trials to eliminate visual and olfactory
residue in arena.
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5. PROCEDURE;
o Before testing: Acclimation: subjects in home cage are placed in testing room
for at least 1hr before testing to minimize effects of stress on behavior during
testing.
o Each arm of the maze is labeled as either arm A, B, or C. In each session, the
animal is placed in arm B and allowed to explore the three arms for 5 minutes.
o Number of arm entries and number of alternations are scored live in order to
calculate the percent alternation.
o The entry is considered when all four limbs are within the arm. The alternation
percentage is calculated by dividing the number of alternations by number of
possible triads x 100.
o The maze is cleaned with Vikron solution between animals to eliminate odor
traces.
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6. DATA ANALYSIS;
Total number of entries should not include first recorded arm (always
Number of triads = (Total entries – 2) Triad (set of three letters)
containing all three letters is scored as alternation.
Percentage alternation= No. of alternation/No. of entries × 100.
The cognition of the animal can be assessed based on the score where
Lower score is the considered cognitively impaired. In a three arm
it is 22 percentage.
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9. Advantages of a Y Maze Test
 The Y maze test, though similar to the T maze test, possesses
specific advantages that make it ideal for behavioral research.
 As the Y maze test has a more gradually angled difference
between branches, the animal models can more quickly
comprehend the layout of the maze.
 This decreases learning time for mice and rats, improving the
efficiency of experiments; this leads to more time dedicated to
observing the memory performance of the animal models,
improving the data collection process.
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