Actual-HCA™ by Actual Analytics
Request InformationRequest SupportGeneral Information
*Available for US and Canada Only*
Rodent behavior analysis plays a vital role in drug discovery, in everything from the development of disease models through to safety pharmacology. Through the NC3Rs CRACK-IT Challenges (in partnership with AstraZeneca, MRC Harwell, University of Strathclyde, University of Edinburgh, and The NC3Rs), we have developed an innovative home cage analysis system that provides 24/7 monitoring of rodent behaviors in a group-housed environment that is beneficial from both data and welfare perspectives.
The Actual Home Cage Analysis system represents the newest and most exciting technology available in rodent behavioral research. In the past, measuring locomotor activity in rodents meant they had to be housed singly in bespoke arenas. The depth of analysis was limited to the designated hours of observation, meaning researchers obtained nothing more than a limited snapshot of the rodents' activity and behavior.
With ActualHCA, it is possible to gather data on a 24/7 basis in the least invasive way possible, while the rodents remain in the same home cage. The system provides automated analysis of the complex behaviors displayed by rodents while allowing for identity to be retained.
The richness of the data provided by ActualHCA is unmatched by traditional methods. It allows researchers to obtain the maximum data possible per rodent as part of standard in vivo testing; according to the University of Strathclyde, ActualHCA delivers 90% more data with 50% fewer rodents than traditional observation methods. Not only does this mean your organisation benefits from better experimental data, it also enables better compliance with the 3RS and reduces safety-related project closures further up the drug discovery pipeline.
The CRACK-IT Challenge
CRACK-IT is a funding competition designed to accelerate the development, application and commercialization of technologies with 3Rs potential as they emerge from the research base. CRACK IT has been developed to facilitate active collaboration between the pharmaceutical, chemical and consumer products industries, contract research organisations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the academic sector.
In 2011 the CRACK-IT challenge was devised by Dr Will Redfern, Associate Director of the Cardiovascular and CNS Translational Centre of Expertise at AstraZeneca. He asked - what if you could:
- Monitor the ambulatory activity of each individual rodent within a standard home cage over 24 hours or longer?
- Also monitor their temperature?
- Achieve this without surgery?
- Detect abnormal behavior?
- Achieve all this within the true, unmodified home cage?
- Do this in a standard IVC cage rack which you could wheel anywhere?
Features / Specifications
24x7 recording and analysis
Identity retained tracking of group housed rodents
In the real home cage
Ordering Information
0820-HCA ActualHCA Home Cage Analyzer Module with Camera, PC Interface, and Software
References Cited (4)
Click on any of the following titles to search for the document in a new window using Google Scholar.
Some of these references may be difficult to locate using Google Scholar. If you are having trouble finding the correct reference paper, try searching for it on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed
Analysis of Individual Mouse Activity in Group Housed Animals of Different Inbred Strains Using a Novel Automated Home Cage Analysis System
Rasneer S. Bains, Heather L. Cater, Rowland R. Sillito, Agisilaos Chartsias, Duncan Sneddon, Danilo Concas, Piia Keskivali-Bond, Timothy C. Lukins, Sara Wells, Abraham Acevedo Arozena, Patrick M. Nolan, J. Douglas Armstrong
Frontiers in Behavioral Neoroscience, 10 June 2016
Pioneering Better Science through the 3Rs: An Introduction to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs)
Natalie Burden, Kathryn Chapman, Fiona Sewell, Vicky Robinson
Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, Vol. 54, No. 2, March 2015
Rodent big brother: Development and validation of a home cage automated behavioural monitoring system for use in repeat-dose toxicity studies in rats
Will S. Redfern, J. Douglas Armstrong, James Heward, Ben Allison, Tim Lukins, Claire Grant, Lauren Leslie, David J. Craig, Catherine Vickers, Kathryn Chapman
Toxicology Letters, 2014
Inclusion of Safety Pharmacology Endpoints in Repeat-Dose Toxicity Studies
Will S. Redfern
Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, Vol. 229, Pages 353-381, 2015