The Animal Behaviour and Physiology Core facility was established in 2009 and provides a state-of-the-art facility equipped to serve as a time-efficient and cost-effective service for researchers in need of mouse and rat behavioural analyses.

Our tests

Test Name Equipment in Core Species Availability Maximum Animals Tested Simultaneously 
Barnes Maze 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 
Bussey-Saksida Touchscreen System 
  • Hardware:  Lafayette Instruments 

Tests for Mice 

  • Pairwise Associate Learning (PAL) 
  • 5-Choice Serial Reaction Test (5-CSRT) 
  • Location Discrimination (LD) 
  • Pairwise Visual Discrimination (PD) 
  • Trial Unique Non-Matching to Location Task (TUNL) 
  • Two chambers formatted for live stimulation/recording during testing 

Test for Rats 

  • Pairwise Associate Learning (PAL) 
  • 5-Choice Serial Reaction Test (5-CSRT) 
  • Location Discrimination (LD) 
  • Pairwise Visual Discrimination (PD) 
Mice and rats 

Mice: Up to 6 animals tested simultaneously. 

Rats: Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 

Conditioned Avoidance (Active or Passive) 
  • Hardware and Software: Med Associates Inc. 

Mice 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 
Conditioned Place Preference 
  • Hardware and Software: Med Associates Inc. 

Mice 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 
Fear Conditioning 

Mice and rats 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 
Morris Water Maze 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 
Object Recognition 

Mice and rats 

Up to 2 animals tested simultaneously 
Olfactory Associative Learning 

Mice and rats 

Up to 3 animals tested simultaneously 
Radial Arm Maze 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 
Radial Arm Water Maze 

Mice 

One animal per trial. 
T Maze 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 
Y-Maze (Spontaneous and Forced) 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 

Contact us

Faculty of Medicine Animal Behaviour and Physiology Core

Room 2538, Roger Guindon Hall (RGH),
451 Smyth Road,
Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada

Office: 613-562-5800 Ext: 8621
Manager: Kerstin Ure, PhD
Email: [email protected]