A system for 3D reconstruction of mouse behaviour

Abstract

Recent development in machine vision has enabled researchers unprecedented resolution in measuring behaviour in freely moving animals. However, the hardware implementation of a behavioural arena for capturing 3D behaviours remains time consuming and unstandardised. Here we first provide detailed instructions on how to build and calibrate such a system. Secondly, we provide instructions on how to process video data to obtain a 3D reconstruction of mouse behaviour. Finally, we provide results from behavioural tests in which 3D reconstruction enables clear-cut separation of behavioural responses to distinct sensory stimuli. Data and Software AvailabilityAll data and analyses software required for this article is provided in a publicly available repository [1] Competing InterestsThis project contains the following underlying data. Grant InformationThis work was funded by NC3Rs via a David Sainsbury Fellowship (Project Reference NC/P001505/1).