Evaluation of two minimally invasive techniques for electroencephalogram recording in wild or freely behaving animals.

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Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_2235723E1E27
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Evaluation of two minimally invasive techniques for electroencephalogram recording in wild or freely behaving animals.
Journal
Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology
Author(s)
Scriba M.F., Harmening W.M., Mettke-Hofmann C., Vyssotski A.L., Roulin A., Wagner H., Rattenborg N.C.
ISSN
1432-1351 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0340-7594
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2013
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
199
Number
3
Pages
183-189
Language
english
Abstract
Insight into the function of sleep may be gained by studying animals in the ecological context in which sleep evolved. Until recently, technological constraints prevented electroencephalogram (EEG) studies of animals sleeping in the wild. However, the recent development of a small recorder (Neurologger 2) that animals can carry on their head permitted the first recordings of sleep in nature. To facilitate sleep studies in the field and to improve the welfare of experimental animals, herein, we test the feasibility of using minimally invasive surface and subcutaneous electrodes to record the EEG in barn owls. The EEG and behaviour of four adult owls in captivity and of four chicks in a nest box in the field were recorded. We scored a 24-h period for each adult bird for wakefulness, slow-wave sleep (SWS), and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep using 4 s epochs. Although the quality and stability of the EEG signals recorded via subcutaneous electrodes were higher when compared to surface electrodes, the owls' state was readily identifiable using either electrode type. On average, the four adult owls spent 13.28 h awake, 9.64 h in SWS, and 1.05 h in REM sleep. We demonstrate that minimally invasive methods can be used to measure EEG-defined wakefulness, SWS, and REM sleep in owls and probably other animals.
Keywords
EEG recording method, Barn owl, Surface electrodes, Subcutaneous electrodes, Sleep
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
19/02/2013 8:04
Last modification date
19/09/2020 6:08
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