Development of a real-time tracking system for quantitative analysis of animal behavior in laboratory

• Ano de defesa: 2018
• Autor(a) principal: Brilhador, Geucimar
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Positivo; Brasil; Pós-Graduação; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia Industrial; UP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Biotecnologia Industrial; Comportamento animal; Kinect (Controlador programável); Processamento de imagem assistida por computador; Computação gráfica; CNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::BIOLOGIA GERAL
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.cruzeirodosul.edu.br/handle/123456789/2271

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the behavioral analysis of animals in the laboratory, a standard research technique in Neuroscience, is done manually. However, after the emergence of the electronic devices, the computer and the evolution of the algorithms, the activities of quantification and behavioral analysis of animals have been automated. In this line, this work focused on the development of a tracking system, using two-dimensional and threedimensional cameras to capture, process and quantify movements of Wistar rats in the Morris Water Maze (MWM). Thus, the system was designed and developed with a pool, a Microsoft Kinect® v.2 sensor for image capture and tracking software. The system was evaluated in the tasks of acquisition of reference memory, probe test and operational memory using 48 rats, from a study conducted with the objective of studying the effect of enriched environment on maternal care. Tests have shown that the system has good usability, correctly processes 2D data using algorithms from the OpenCV library and 3D data using the Point Cloud Library. The evaluation ensured that the system could be used in MWM behavioral studies without prejudice.