Several AnimalGates may be added to each IntelliCage, allowing selective access to different arenas and potentially connecting to other behavioral test equipment. As for both IntelliCage and all IntelliCage add-ons, an initially basic system can be expanded gradually up to the maximal setup thanks to the modular design of the system.

General features

• expands IntelliCages to a multi-area system with selective access for individually recognized mice

• senses the direction of passage and distributes animals according to your directives
• measures precisely body weight of mice passing (optional integrated high-precision balance)
• permits individual access to specific food or liquid sources, and any other connected area
• expands the capacity of IntelliCage for measuring consumption behavior
• creates the opportunity to apply treatments differentially to specific animals without handling

• control of food and drink access
• monitoring body weight, stress effects, health status
• differentiation of treatments for specific animal groups
• precise control of movement patterns and treatment applications

Description in detail

The core function of the AnimalGate is to allow or deny access of individual transponder-tagged mice to external test or consumption areas. It keeps other mice away while the selected individual is performing the desired operations. For optimal regulation of mouse traffic, our AnimalGate senses the direction of the moving animal, and can communicate this to external devices or IntelliCage itself.
In order to enable precise control of consumptive behavior, it may contain an integrated balance measuring precisely body weight of individual mice prior and after food intake (optional feature). Likewise, the AnimalGate can monitor stress-induced or treatment-dependent decrease of body weight.
Up to 4 AnimalGates can be connected to each Intellicage,  permitting to distribute animals between arenas such as specific behavioral training or video tracking arenas, according to differential access rights designed by the experimenter. The AnimalGate is controlled by an upgrade of the existing IntelliCage software, offering the same superb graphical online monitoring features for passage and body weight tracking.