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Development of Digital Stereotaxic Instrument for Pigeons (Columba Livia)

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Abstract

Stereotaxic instrument is an indispensable tool for numerous types of neuroscience studies and is routinely performed in neuroscience laboratories as part of a variety of experimental procedures. Due to the development of robotics and automation, the stereotaxic instrument for rodents has made great progress, while it is relatively backward and scarce for birds. A digital stereotaxic instrument for pigeons (Columba livia), a classic animal model for learning, memory and cognition, was developed in this study. Its performance was verified from three aspects including stereotaxic accuracy, stereotaxic stability and stereotaxic reproducibility. The developed stereotaxic instrument has the following characteristics: (1) a digital positioning system was used, which is characterized by high stereotaxic accuracy; (2) a novel head-fixation system was developed to increase the adaptability of head-fixation; (3) a four-point fixation method was suggested, improving the stability of head-fixation; (4) the stereotaxic instrument has strong versatility, which can be suitable for a wide variety of birds. Moreover, the proposed stereotaxic instrument has better positioning accuracy and stability, which will promote the study of neural mechanisms for pigeons.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank both Shoutong Qin and Shuli Chen from Zhengzhou University for assistance with design and produce of the stereotaxic instrument.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62003146, in part by the Key Scientific Research Projects of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province under Grant 21A413004, in part by the Major Commission Project of Industrial Innovation and Development Research in Zhumadian City under Grant 2020ZDWT08, and in part Young Teacher Foundation of Huanghuai University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, 463000, China

    Xinyu Liu, Yanna Ping, Dongyun Wang & Hang Xie

  2. Henan Engineering Reseacrh Center of Intelligent Human-Machine Interaction Equipment, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, 463000, China

    Xinyu Liu, Yanna Ping, Dongyun Wang & Hang Xie

  3. Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Li Shi

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  1. Xinyu Liu
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  2. Yanna Ping
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  3. Dongyun Wang
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  4. Hang Xie
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  5. Li Shi
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Correspondence to Xinyu Liu.

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Liu, X., Ping, Y., Wang, D. et al. Development of Digital Stereotaxic Instrument for Pigeons (Columba Livia). J Bionic Eng 19, 1003–1013 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00194-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00194-0

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