FED3.2
FED3.2
SKU: OEPS-7511
FED3 is a homecage pellet-dispensing device for training mice on operant tasks. Mice interact with FED3 through two nose-pokes and FED3 responds with visual stimuli, auditory stimuli, and by dispensing pellets. All behavioral events are logged to an on-board microSD card. Click here to watch an introductory video.
FED3 is compact and wire-free so it can be placed in the homecage or mounted to the side with magnets. Its rechargeable battery lasts about a week between charges. The top lid is transparent to monitor the amount of available pellets. FED3 is open-source and fully programmable with the FED Arduino library which includes more than 10 pre-programmed feeding and stimulation paradigms.
Features:
Two nose pokes, 8 RGBW LEDs on the front panel, 1 RGBW LED inside each poke, onboard speaker and pellet-retrieval sensor at the well.
Hopper with capacity for 800 20 mg pellets with single-pellet dispenser and jam-clearance mechanisms.
Built-in screen used to provide real-time feedback to the experimenter.
Audio 3.5mm mono jack digital port programmable as input or output (3.3V logic) to synchronize with and control external equipment such as lasers or brain recording systems. You can get an audio-to-BNC adapter here.
What’s new in FED3.2:
More resistant mouthpiece made out of Titanium which does not corrode.
USB connector upgraded to the latest USB-C type
Single USB port for both charging + programming.
Standard I2C connector for environment sensors (temperature & humidity). You can get the sensor here and the cable for it here.
Improved battery management and 4× faster charging
Package includes:
1x Assembled FED3.2 programmed to your time-zone. Includes a 16GB Micro SD memory card, a coin cell and 3.7V 4400mAh Li-Ion Battery Pack
This device requires additional components to operate. Please check the device connectivity list to purchase any cables, tethers and power supplies you might need.
Documentation
Visit the FED Wiki and watch the tutorial videos for more information.
Ordering
We will start shipping assembled FED3.2 units in December.
If you need a formal quote and/or prefer bank transfer as the payment method, please contact us via info@oeps.tech.
More info about FED3
Quick-start instructions can be found here. Very handy once you have the device ready to go.
FED3 was designed with experimental flexibility in mind, to allow researchers to train and test mice wherever they'd like - in dedicated chambers, in home cages, or even inside of other scientific equipment.
Mice interact with FED3 through two nose-pokes, and FED3 responds with visual stimuli, auditory stimuli, and pellets.
FED3 also includes an input/output jack for time-stamping behavior in ephys recordings or controlling lasers for optogenetic stimulation.
A built-in screen provides real-time feedback to the experimenter, and all behavioral events are time-stamped and written to an on-board microSD card for later analysis.
FED3 can be charged via a microUSB cable, or empty batteries can be swapped with charged ones.
While FED3 supports custom programs, it ships with the following programs so you can start training right away:
- Fixed-Ratio 1, 3, and 5
- Progressive Ratio
- Extinction
- Light tracking
- Optogenetic self-stimulation
- Free-feeding
- Time-restricted feeding
Pellet information
Pellets used with FED3 should be 20mg in size. Smaller than this will likely not be detected by the pellet well, and larger may not fit through the dispensing mechanism.
You can find more information here.
Data Analysis
The program output is saved to the SD card in CSV format. The CSV output file includes the timestamps of each event, such as nose pokes or pellet retrievals. Open-source libraries to analyze this data exist: check out the fed3 Python library (based on the original FED3VIZ GUI) written by Tom Earnest of the Kravitz lab, and the FED3_time_bins GUI by Harry Dempsey of the Andrews lab and Foldi lab.
Authorship
FED3 was designed by:
- Lex Kravitz (Washington University)
- Mohamed Ali (University of Maryland)
- Katrina Nguyen (Carnegie Mellon)
- Filipe Carvalho (Open Ephys Production Site)
It was programmed in the Arduino IDE and uses parts and related code from Adafruit.
Publications that used FED
London et al., (J Neuroscience, 2018) synchronized FED with electrophysiological recordings in the nucleus accumbens to look at spiking around feeding.
Li et al., (Cell Metabolism, 2018) used FED to measure food intake while manipulating subpopulations of hypothalamic neurons.
Burnett et al., (eLife, 2019) used FED to measure the interactions between food intake and other behaviors.
Vachez et al., used FED3 to control optogenetic stimulation in an operant self-stimulation assay.
Briefly et al., used the original FED1 device to measure food intake.
Mazzone et al., used FED3 to pair food intake with dopamine neuron stimulation, changing the reinforcing value of food.
Rodriguez et al , used multiple FED3s in a preference assay.
Matikainen-Ankney et al, used FED3 to measure food seeking in mice after weight loss.
Design files, source code and community:
Files and source code can be found here.
Helpful videos can be found here.
And the Google Group here.