PC—1501袖珍电子计算机在小哺乳动物行为研究中的应用

本文首次报道了用 SHARP PC-1501袖珍电子计算机收集小哺乳动物行为学研究数据的方法。一是在动物活动观察中,将动物活动的频次、时间和位置等参数直接录入计算机,并将所收集的数据进行处理。此外,还可用自行设计的接口电路将计算机与各种活动记录仪相联,组成动物活动自动记录系统。记录中所用程序均采用BASIC语言编制。     

MFMS—2叶绿素荧光仪毫秒信号的数字化和计算机采集

在研究植物生理的仪器测量中常遇到诸如长时间、快速或者精确记录信号，准确处理记录信号等一些问题。用常规电子仪器取样可能做得很好，但如果能借助微机，问题的解决就更容易些，而且准确，比手工快得多。一些没有用单片机或微机控制的老式仪器的测定精度也不一定很差，如MFMS－2双路调制叶绿素荧光仪可以在毫秒级范围内对叶绿素荧光取样，但用普通示波器记录信号较难掌握，此外，台式记录仪因频率响应较差，不能记录毫秒级荧光。因此，如果利用微机使仪器输出的模拟信号数字化，就可最大限度地开发仪器的功能，也有利于该领域的研究。…     

多通道在体记录技术——动作电位与场电位信号处理

多通道在体记录可以同时记录到多个神经元的胞外放电信号以及对应的局部场电位的活动信号。如何对记录到的这两种电信号进行合适的处理,以确保实验结果的准确性,是运用好多通道在体记录技术的关键之一。本文旨在针对多通道在体记录的原始数据,介绍动作电位及场电位信号的常用数据处理方法。动作电位信号属于高频信号,一般用40 kHz的高速采样频率进行采集和记录。根据记录到的神经元胞外动作电位波形,运用主成分分析技术,再结合四电极记录技术的优势,可对来自记录电极周围不同空间位置的神经元放电信号进行良好的甄别,从而获得较精确的单神经元放电时间序列。而局部场电位信号属低频信号(300 Hz),一般用1 kHz的采样频率进行采集和记录。记录到的场电位原始信号需要进行数字滤波,从而分离出场电位信号中不同频率段的节律性振荡。啮齿类动物海马结构中常见的节律性振荡有动物清醒活动及快速眼动睡眠时的theta节律(4~12 Hz);清醒认知活动过程中,伴随着theta节律一起出现的gamma节律(30~80 Hz);以及清醒静止及慢波睡眠时的ripple高频振荡(100~250 Hz)。针对以上处理获得的数据,常用的后续数据分析方法有:神经元放电间隔分析、神经元放电自相关与互相关分析、以及信号的频谱分析等。     

青藏铁路、公路对野生动物活动的影响

2003年8月和2004年8月,在不冻泉保护站(35°17′N;93°16′E)至五道梁(35°13′N;93°04′E)一带调查青藏公路的运营和青藏铁路的建设对野生动物活动的影响,并分析了野生动物对青藏铁路上所建立的动物通道的利用情况。结果表明,青藏铁路的建设增加了青藏公路的交通运输量,青藏公路在铁路修建期间会对藏羚羊(Pantholops hodgsoni)、藏原羚(Procapra picticaudata)和藏野驴(Equus kiang)的活动产生部分影响。同时,野生动物通过自身的适应和行为调节可以减少环境改变产生的影响,如公路两侧动物的活动高峰正好是公路上车流量较少的时段、动物可以利用野生动物通道来通过青藏铁路等。藏野驴、藏羚羊与藏原羚均可利用通道穿越铁路,而藏羚羊对通道的利用频次和通道到公路的距离显著的正相关(p<0.5),大多数的动物通道因其高度、宽度和到公路的距离以及人类活动等因素的影响而不能被动物利用。总的看来,动物能够通过自己的适应和行为调节,可以适应青藏铁路修建对该地区的环境所带来的变化。     

心脏中的Cl~-通道可被肾上腺素激活

关于阳离子在心脏电生理学的离子机制已有广泛报道。然而,最近日本Kyushu大学的两位学者T.Ehara和K.Ishhihara证明,心脏中的Cl~-通道可被肾上腺素激活,阴离子通道在交感活动控制中扮演一个特殊的角色。他们用电压钳技术记录到心肌细胞有一种外向的Cl~-通道整流电流。与心肌细胞中其它的儿茶酚胺依     

活性氧对大鼠肝卵圆细胞株WB-F344钾通道的作用

用膜片箝技术的细胞贴附式 (cell-attached)观察O2.-对大鼠肝卵圆细胞株WB -F344K 通道活动的影响 ,结果发现 :1)在细胞处于静息状态时 ,在箝制电压为0mV ,每10mV阶跃 ,测试电压分别达±120mV范围内未记录到通道活动。此时 ,小剂量O2.- 也不能激活WB细胞的通道活动。在细胞外液中加入20mmol/LCaCl2 后通道开启 ,记录到小振幅的通道活动 ,它们的电导是9.48±0.93ps(n=4)。此时再用O2.-作用于细胞 ,通道被激活 ,通道电导增大 ,在正测试电压时为15.74±5.46ps(n=8) ,在负测试电压时为48.32±8.67ps(n=6)。通道活动具有外向整流特性。2)胞外加入4 -AP可抑制该通道的活动 ,而SNP则可增强通道的活动。     

小型动物活动微机自动精确记录方法

本文介绍了用ＡＰＰＬＥⅡ微机对小型动物活动自动记录与结果处理的实验方法,同时尝试了把电子触摸开关电路作为监视动物进出活动的传感器和把自制的简易时钟卡用于本实验中,经反复实验表明,用该装置不仅实验结果精确,而且省事省时,还可利用存盘的数据方便地进行种间,种内不同个体间的对比处理。扩大了一些低档微机在生物学研究领域的应用范围。     

P物质尾核微量注射抑制小鼠胃肌电活动和胃运动

本文观察了小鼠尾核微量注射Ｐ物质或乙酰胆碱对胃肌电和胃运动的ｍ影响;并初步探讨了两者作用的关系。用双极康铜导线引导胃窦部肌电;用水囊连接压力换能器记录胃窦部运动。上述信息经生物电放大器和载波放大器放大后,由四道记录仪描记曲线,同时输入微机进行采集、贮存和处理。计算出注药前后每分钟胃肌电快波、慢波和胃运动波的频率和总幅度的变化百分数。结果如下：尾核注射ＳＰ或ＡＣｈ胃电快波和胃运动呈明显的抑制效应。用     

PC—12细胞离子单通道开放状态的检测

本文对用片膜钳技术记录的PC-12细胞钾通道数据进行了连续分组平均开放时间分析,检测到通道活动的三种开放状态．并用正态密度函数对通道平均开放时间的频数分布进行了拟合,估计了各状态的开放持续时间的均值、方差等参数．本文提供的方法,在通道的数据分析中具有广泛的应用价值．     

测定人和动物心脏单相动作电位的新方法

用吸引电极记录人和动物在体心脏的单相动作电位(MAP),虽可获得心肌细胞群电活动的某些信息,但由于吸引电极对心肌细胞的损伤,因而限制了临床应用。本文介绍用接触电极导管代替吸引电极记录MAP的方法。对接触电极的制备、实验程序、MAP的形态、测量、特征以及应用价值均作了简要说明。     

A description of micro- and mainframe-computer programs to summarize frequency,duration and sequences of behavior

Computer programs were developed to hasten the summarization of behavioral data. Behavioral data may be collected by hand (pencil, paper and watch), strip-chart mechanical event recorder, electronic event recorder or by a computer. These behavioral data, in raw form, enter (electronically or manually) a microcomputer (IBM-PC, 128K) or mainframe computer. The microcomputer version summarizes the number of occurrences (frequency), duration and sequence of each behavior. As a microcomputer memory is limited, a program to summarize larger data sets containing more behavior patterns was developed on our mainframe computer (CDC Cyber 730/760). This sequential analysis program can accumulate up to 10 behavioral sequences (9 orders of transition) of up to 50 behaviors in a data set containing up to 10 000 elements. The computer-summary of each treatment may be combined to determine if treatment differences exist. An example data set is provided.     

Effects of photostimulation,castration, and testosterone replacement on daily patterns of calling and locomotor activity in Japanese quail

To record calling (crowing) of Japanese quail continuously and automatically, an electronic device was developed. With this device, one call by Japanese quail triggers a pen deflection on a event recorder and also a count on a counter. Locomotor activity was also recorded automatically on the event recorder and the counter. Photostimulation induced calling and enhancement of activity in intact quails, and castration abolished calling and reduced locomotor activity. Silastic capsule implants containing testosterone restored both behaviors to the precastration levels in a week or so. There were daily rhythms of calling and locomotor activity in fully matured birds. These patterns also reappeared in testosterone-implanted birds, even though the release rate of the steroid hormone from the implanted capsules was expected to be constant. These results indicate that testosterone is required to induce calling and enhancement of locomotor activity and that a circadian oscillatory mechanism is possibly involved in daily rhythms of the behaviors.     

Assembly of overlapping DNA sequences by a program written in BASIC for 64K CP/M and MS-DOS IBM-compatible microcomputers.

The SEQALIGN programs1 described in this report aid in the assembly of up to 100 individual overlapping DNA sequences generated by M-13 subcloning and sequencing methods. The program produces a printout of the aligned sequences presented in register. Use of the program will be facilitated because 1) it is written with the Microsoft BASIC interpreter, 2) sequence data may be entered and edited using WORDSTAR or similar word processing programs, and 3) hardware requirements for execution of the program on CP/M or MS-DOS (IBM-PC compatible) systems are minimal.     

Electrophysiological analysis of retrieval of conditioned taste aversion. Physiological techniques and data processing.

New techniques suitable for electrophysiological investigation of retrieval of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) were developed. The gustatory discrimination apparatus consisted of two parallel drinking spouts (20 mm apart) equipped with photoelectric lick sensors. The spouts contained water or the aversive fluid (0.15 M LiCl), respectively, and their position could be rapidly (50 ms) interchanged with a reversive electromotor. Licking at either spout and the position of the fluids were recorded on one channel of a tape recorder. Unit activity was picked up with tungsten microelectrodes (40 micrometers) inserted into the brain of a freely moving rat with a head-mounted microdrive system (weight 2 g), fixed to an implanted guiding cannula. The electrode was connected through a head-carried FET signal follower to a wide band integrated circuit amplifier and the unit activity was recorded in the other channel of the tape recorder. The records were evaluated using an off-line computer program (LINC 8) consisting of a spike detection subroutine followed by amplitude histogram analysis. The mean (M) and SD values were computed for uni- or bimodal amplitude distributions of the principal spike components. Spike falling within the M+/-2 SD range of the selected parameter were identified as single units and used for construction of post stimulus histograms triggered by licking or by spout switching.     

Measuring foraging activity in bumblebee nests: a simple nest‐entrance trip recorder

We describe a new, electronic, apparatus for measuring the activity of bumblebees as they fly from and to their nests. The bee activity recorder (BAR) works on the principle that bees leaving and returning to their nest crawl through a tube equipped with infrared emitters and detectors so that when the beam is interrupted by the passage of a bee, the event is recorded as either an exit or an entry. Tests of BARs indicate that they are highly accurate, BAR counts and visual counts highly correlated with an almost one‐to‐one correspondence. We suggest that BARs can be used for recording the foraging activities of bumblebees through nest exit and entry counts in many practical and research applications.     

A solid state signal multiplexer

A solid state device has been designed which is capable of scanning up to eight thermocouple inputs and feeding the output of each sequentially into a single channel recorder. Alternately, up to four thermocouples can be amplified and multiplexed with other analog signals to provide outputs compatible with a single span range. During normal operation this unit cycles repeatedly through a present number of channels and activates the recorder pen lift mechanism between channels. Subsequent circuitry features a unity gain differential input amplifier which can compensate all thermocouples from a single reference thermocouple, an adjustable gain amplifier, provision for unamplified uncompensated output from four channels, and provision for generating the first derivative of the thermocouple inputs to allow direct monitoring of either cooling rate or warming rate. Although designed to monitor cooling rates, the unit is sufficiently versatile to be useful for many other recording applications.     

A portable miniature solid-state heart rate recorder for monitoring daily physical activity

A compact, rugged, solid-state heart rate recorder (63 X 94 X 22 mm, 195 g) to measure normal daily heart rates over periods of up to 33 h is described. With an interval switch a selection can be a mean heart rate over 30, 60 or 120 sec. The ECG amplifier filter is equipped with an automatic gain control to eliminate R-wave amplitude changes during physical activity. A continuous acoustic check on correct electrode attachment and sufficient signal amplitude is possible by means of an earphone. Data may be stored on punch tape, tape recorder, or processed on-line, or plotted directly one a line writer to obtain a heart rate profile over the measured time. In 45 studies with adults and children the heart rate recorder has proven to be a reliable instrument.     

GCWIND: a microcomputer program for identifying open reading frames according to codon positional G + C content

GCWIND is a microcomputer (IBM-PC compatible) program for theidentification of protein-coding open reading frames. The programis similar to the FRAME program, but the latter has only beenimplemented for a specialized graphics package. The base compositions(%G+C)for each of the three possible reading phases throughthe DNA sequence are displayed separately, together with thepositions of potential translation initiation and terminationcodons (on the leading and complementary strands), to providean immediate representation of those regions within the sequencethat have coding potential.