Source Paper
Atrophin-1 antisense oligonucleotide provides robust protection from pathology in a fully humanized DRPLA model
Smith VL, Gidi BZ, Bragg RM, Cantle JP, Ben-Varon A et al.
Mol Ther Nucleic Acids • 2025
Circadian Home Cage Activity Monitoring
Objective: Monitor circadian patterns of home cage behavior in mice to analyze activity levels across light and dark periods
This is a Circadian Home Cage Activity Monitoring protocol using Mice as the model organism. The procedure involves 6 procedural steps, 4 equipment items, 2 materials. Extracted from a 2025 paper published in Mol Ther Nucleic Acids.
Model and subjects
Mice • Atn1 Q112/+ mice • male • eight weeks • 4
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Setup monitoring cages • Begin simultaneous recording • Complete monitoring period
Primary readouts
- Duration within each zone (arena center, arena perimeter, hidden shelter) in seconds
- Total activity for each 1-hour bin
- Average activity during light periods (Light-1, -2, and -3) versus dark periods (Dark-1, -2, and -3)
- Zone area measurements: arena center 293 cm², arena perimeter 347 cm², hidden shelter 106 cm²
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Setup monitoring cages
Place mice in Plexiglas cages with corncob bedding and plastic hidden shelter with two entry/exit points
View evidence from paper
“Plexiglas cages measuring 30 × 30 cm included corncob bedding”
Begin simultaneous recording
Record all cages simultaneously with overhead cameras starting at 12 p.m. on day 1
View evidence from paper
“All cages were recorded simultaneously for 67 h, beginning at 12 p.m. on day 1”
Complete monitoring period
Continue recording until 7 a.m. to capture complete circadian cycles
View evidence from paper
“beginning at 12 p.m. on day 1 and ending at 7 a.m.”
Track mouse movement
Use EthoVision XT software to track mouse movement throughout the experiment duration
View evidence from paper
“EthoVision XT software was used to track the movement of the mice”
Analyze behavioral data offline
Divide cage recording into zones (arena center, arena perimeter, hidden shelter) and determine duration in each zone
View evidence from paper
“67 h of behavioral tracking data were analyzed offline in an automated manner”
Bin activity measurements
Divide behavioral activity measurements into 1-hour sessions and track activity across all zones
View evidence from paper
“Behavioral activity measurements were binned into 1-h sessions and activity tracked across all zones”