Development of a data acquisition system for monitoring the biological stress response of rats in a thermal

gradient

Lee ReynoldsIntegrated Science and Technology

Mentor: Dr. Keith HollandDr. Justin Brown PhD

Research On the RatsAutonomic Nervous System to Hypoxic StressLinked to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)They hypothesize that the RaPa, and likely the 5HT1A receptor, mediate the thermoregulatory responses to hypoxic stress which would be confirmed by an alteration of the normal hypothermic response to hypoxic stress Examples of Hypoxic Stress:

less oxygen, more nitrogen

Actual Rat Thermoregulatory responses to hypoxic stress were measured in male Sprague-Dawley rats using radiotelemetry

Rats were instrumented with microinjection cannulas targeting the RaPa which allowed pharmacologic alterations in neurotransmission

Changes in core temperature (Tc) and selected ambient temperature (STa) during hypoxic stress were observed in rats

18 Temperature Thermocouples 18 Photoreceptors Cold Water Bath & Oxygen and Nitrogen Tank

Temperature Gradient

The TestingTime Scale:30 minutes – 1 hour for acclimation30 minute baseline test15 minutes – 36+ hour stress response tests

Selected Ambient Temperature:

The temperature at the exact position of the rat during any

given time

The OLD SystemProblems Included:

-Limited Lifetime -Keyboard Failure -Not User Friendly -Sometimes would not boot up - Raw Data would have to be processed -Time consuming data manipulationRaw data must be processedNo raw data manipulationIf a position sensor was not blocked or if multiple were blocked, the data processing program would not workRequired time consuming manual removal of these data samples

Thermocouples Problems With Old Thermocouples:

- Poor Connection - Unorganized and messy - Sometimes would take a whole day to replace just one

New Gradient System

More Efficient New “modular” data acquisition system – room for expansion and modification in the future

Space saver

Looks cooler

“Under the Hood”

LabVIEW No longer need to process

the raw data – once the test is finished, the relevant data is already summarized at appropriate time intervals

Automatically recognize if multiple photoreceptors are tripped and adjust readings accordingly (data analysis does not fail)

Automatically recognize and alert user to thermocouple and/or photoreceptor failures/errors

New SystemWithout need for post

processing, data manipulation time is eliminated, allowing for tests to be run in closer succession.

More “user friendly” identification of potential data errors.

Addition of standard deviation and summary statistics for important parameters to improve result accuracy

Can be run continuously, even when data is not being stored, to monitor conditions – no need to run and analyze additional baseline tests.

“Things are working unbelievably well so far.  We have been collecting data and the lab students will start to analyze it shortly. I have looked at it and it seems to be organized perfectly.  This system will be a much quicker, and more reliable, way to get our data.  Plus, we can easily replace it if the computer system fails using the back up files we made” – Dr. Brown

Thank You Dr. Keith HollandDr. Robert PrinsDr. Justin Brown Dr. Chris Hughes JMU REU Program

DOD-ASSURE/NSF-REU grant # DMR-0851367