<Originals> Development of automated monitoring system for electroencephalograph and behavior of experimental animals

A new computerized monitoring apparatus for electroencephalography and behavior of small animals containing a piazoceramic vibration sensor combined with videotape recording was developed. This apparatus can synchronously record electroencephalography and seizure behaviors, and the data are processed and stocked by personal computer. Electroencephalographic and behavioral analysis of Ihara Epileptic Rat (IER), which is a newly developed novel epileptic mutant with spontaneous limbic-like seizures, was performed using this new device. Epileptic bursts and abnormal behaviors were synchronously detected during generalized tonic clonic seizures. To eliminate the risk of a false negative result, investigators scrutinized the information obtained from electroencephalogram, the vibration sensor and videotape recorder. The newly developed monitoring system for electroencephalography and seizures was found to facilitate detailed analysis during seizures of rats