Behavior protocol

Steps to put the mouse in the head fixation apparatus:

1. prior to putting the mouse in, clean the ball by washing it and put fresh water
2. weigh the mouse and record weight
3. put mouse in head bars. Try to park it, avoiding putting your hands in front of its face as that will scare it. Holding the head bars with one hand, tighten them taking care to be as symmetrical in positioning the mouse as possible. headbar should be aligned with the tip of each clamp. Clean the window very gently with water and a q-tip, applying no pressure.
4. help mouse relax by pulling his tail down under the aluminium bar behind.
5. turn on the red laser to perfectly position the cranial window perpendicularly to the camera.
6. center the window under the Ca+2 camera by turning on the blue light temporarily.
7. Clamp the mouse breadboard.
8. position the tube that delivers the water close to the mouse, as symmetrical as possible with respect to his face.
9. position the mouse's mouse close to the ball. Make sure the water ball is free to rotate without any induced friction.
10. test the mouse's mouse by pressing the "test mouse's mouse" button. Turn it back off in the end.
11. test the lickometer by delivery one reward and seeing if the mouse licks.
12. check there is enough supply of sucrose water (4%).
13. make sure that the behavior camera is in focus.
14. Check lightning conditions. Turn the IR Leds if needed.
15. Set ROI on camera to be X-offset: 112, Y-offset: 44, Width: 880, Height: 676
16. make sure that you're saving the data in a folder appropriate for the mouse using "choose file to save data".
17. Check all behavior parameters
18. Hit "Apply"
19. Stay quiet until the end of the behavior.
20. Check lickometer is working properly on the mouse video camera.
21. Wait for end of behavior session. If any issues, it can be interrupted by clicking on the behavior computer mouse.
22. When finished, pull water reward tube out and up to avoid any water leakage.
23. Remove mouse from clamp very gently, let it walk on your hand.
24. Weight the mouse and record it.
25. tape the top of water container to avoid evaporation.
26. turn off behavior and calcium camera.
27. Clean water ball.