Collaborative Behavioral Teratology Study: programmed data entry and automated test systems.

The automated laboratory systems described in this paper were developed for use at the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and each of five collaborating laboratories. These laboratories participated in a study designed to evaluate the intra- and interlaboratory reliability and sensitivity of several behavioral test methods used in developmental toxicity studies. This paper describes two microcomputer systems. System I was designed to control stimulus delivery to and record behavioral responses from rats during a visual discrimination learning task and to accept data from physical landmark, negative geotaxis, and olfactory discrimination evaluations. The microprocessor system was an S-100 bus, Z-80 processor with 8K PROM, 16K RAM, nine 8-bit parallel I/O ports, and one serial I/O port. For discrimination learning, the animal testing apparatus consisted of six operant chambers, equipped with two stimulus lights, two nose-poke apertures each containing a phototransmitter and receiver, an electromechanical liquid dispenser unit, and a reward bowl also containing a photodiode. Each chamber was interfaced with the microprocessor at a parallel I/O port which permitted the delivery of response- or time-contingent control signals for the lights and liquid dispenser units. System II controlled stimulus delivery and recorded behavioral responses from rats during an auditory startle habituation task, and also recorded rodent activity levels in figure 8 mazes for periods of 1, 4, or 23 hours. The microprocessor system was an S-100 bus, Z-80 processor with 8K PROM, 16K RAM, nine parallel I/O ports, an analog to digital (A/D) I/O board, and one serial I/O port.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)