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
Objective: To analyze circadian patterns of home cage behavioral activity in a controlled environment
This is a Circadian Home Cage Activity protocol using mice as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 3 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2025 paper published in Mol Ther Nucleic Acids.
Model and subjects
mice • Atn1 Q112/+ • male • eight weeks • 4
Study window
~134 hours hands-on
Core workflow
Setup monitoring cages • Begin continuous recording • Define cage zones
Primary readouts
- Duration within each cage zone (seconds) over monitoring period
- Total activity for each 1-hour bin
- Average activity in light phases (Light-1, -2, and -3) versus dark phases (Dark-1, -2, and -3)
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 30 × 30 cm Plexiglas cages with corncob bedding and plastic shelter with two entry/exit points
View evidence from paper
“Plexiglas cages measuring 30 × 30 cm included corncob bedding”
Begin continuous recording
Record all cages simultaneously for 67 hours starting at 12 p.m. on day 1 and ending at 7 a.m.
View evidence from paper
“All cages were recorded simultaneously for 67 h, beginning at 12 p.m. on day 1 and ending at 7 a.m.”
Define cage zones
Divide cage recording into arena center (293 cm²), arena perimeter (347 cm²), and hidden shelter (106 cm²) zones
View evidence from paper
“arena center 293 cm 2, arena perimeter 347 cm 2, and hidden shelter 106 cm 2”
Track movement automatically
Use EthoVision XT software to track mouse movement and determine duration in each zone
View evidence from paper
“EthoVision XT software was used to track the movement of the mice for the duration of the experiment”
Bin behavioral data
Divide 67 hours of tracking data into 1-hour sessions and calculate average activity for light and dark periods
View evidence from paper
“Behavioral activity measurements were binned into 1-h sessions and activity tracked across all zones”