BioDAQ

Cages

BioDAQ home cages can be fitted with one or multiple feeding and/or drinking modules depending on the study design. The hardware that attaches to the cage openings accommodates both food hoppers and liquid bottles, allowing the researcher to change the format to fit their needs. A standard home cage top and water bottle is provided. 

The BioDAQ Optogenetics Cage is the newest addition to the BioDAQ Mouse Food and Liquid Intake Monitoring System. The cage is designed to record the episodic intake of food and liquid, food choice, or liquid choice, in a freely roaming, tethered, or cranially implanted animal.

Hardware

Flexible Design
The same electronic components can be used for food or liquid monitoring, and for both rat and mouse hardware. Each species’ cage mount can be used for food or liquid hoppers, maximizing flexibility. 

Reduce Spillage
BioDAQ food modules limit the amount of diet spillage. Spillage is captured on the integrated tray at the hopper base. We know that certain diets like those high in fat content crumble more than others. To address this issue the BioDAQ Extended Hopper captures 5x more than our original design. The BioDAQ liquid intake bottle is designed not to leak. The drinking bout data is the animal's fluid intake, not a combination of intake and dripping.

Food/Liquid Choice

BioDAQ Food and Water intake monitoring system measures the episodic ad libitum feeding/ drinking activity of singly housed lab animals in their home cage. 

Food Type
Pelleted lab animal diets- The BioDAQ hoppers will accommodate most pelleted lab animal diets. Research Diets standard size 1/2 in. pelleted purified diets and grain based products from other manufacturers are compatible. When working with crumbly or high fat diets the extended hopper is designed to capture excessive spillage. 

Liquid Type
Water, sucrose solution, saline solution, alcohol. Liquid diet is not suggested for use in BioDAQ liquid bottles. 

Automated Gates

Program access by time or amount consumed

An Automated Gate Controller allows the investigator to program the gate to open or close at a specified time, and/or when a specified amount of food or liquid is consumed. 

• Food Restriction
• Liquid Restriction
• Intermittent Access
• Pair Feeding

The Automated Gate Controller is mounted to the sensor and interacts with the manual gate mechanism of the BioDAQ feeding or drinking module. Automated control limits the researchers’ need to visit the animal room, insuring accuracy, reducing stress, and increasing efficiency. 

Racks

Low Vibration Rack
The BioDAQ electronics are sensitive to vibration and require a stable surface rack for optimal performance. The system has internal settings to compensate for a degree of instability, but in doing so reduce the resolution of the data output. We strongly recommend the use of the MetroMax solid shelf rack system to eliminate the variability from using an unknown rack source.

Saves Space
BioDAQ requires less space than other systems. Complete 16 cage systems fit on low vibration Metro racks measuring 24 in. x 48 in.. All racks are equipped with locking polymer wheels for easy transport.

Cart Washing
Manufacturers instructions: The cart wash chamber must be non-pressurized. Water temperatures in the range of 140°F to 180°F are allowed with an exposure period not to exceed 30 minutes.

Food intake behavior of socially housed NHPs

BioDAQ NHP measures and records feeding bouts of socially housed, RFID implanted, non-human primates. Each BioDAQ NHP feeding station has a multiple kg capacity food hopper equipped with a dispensing system that meters food pellet(s) onto a weighing platform.

Once dispensed, the food pellets are weighed and a gate is opened allowing access to the pellets by NHPs. The food is accessed via a tube fitted with an RFID microchip reader which identifies animals via unique microchips implanted in the wrists of each animal. NHPs reach through the tube to remove the weighed food pellets. The identity of the animal is acquired and associated with the date, time, and the amount of food removed. After the food is removed, the gate closes and the process repeats.

Food Restriction

The weighing, RFID reading, and gating features allow individual, ad libitum food intake recording, or food restriction of individual animals by time, amount, and type of food. Multiple diets can be provided to a group of NHPs, with access to specific diets allowed on an individual basis. In addition, animals can be calorically restricted on an individual basis.

Data Collection

The system runs in a Power over Ethernet configuration with a single network cable per feeding station. Intake data are stored and managed on a local or remote server or both simultaneously. The BioDAQ Online DataViewer provides a flexible analysis and graphics tool to study NHPs food intake parameters. Video cameras record motion detected feeding events.

The BioDAQ NHP is available for NHP species, including, rhesus monkeys, African greens monkeys, and Cynomolgus macaques.