Continuous Whole-Body 3D Kinematic Recordings across the Rodent Behavioral Repertoire

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2021-02, Vol.109 (3), p.420-437.e8
• Main Authors: Marshall, Jesse D., Aldarondo, Diego E., Dunn, Timothy W., Wang, William L., Berman, Gordon J., Ölveczky, Bence P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal models; animal tracking; Animals; autism; Behavior; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Biomechanical Phenomena - physiology; Body piercing; Cameras; computational ethology; Deep learning; Embedding; Fragile X syndrome; Grooming; Grooming - physiology; individuality; Intellectual disabilities; Kinematics; Laboratory animals; Machine learning; Mammals; Motion capture; Movement - physiology; phenotyping; Rats; Recording sessions
• ISSN: 0896-6273; 1097-4199
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.11.016

In mammalian animal models, high-resolution kinematic tracking is restricted to brief sessions in constrained environments, limiting our ability to probe naturalistic behaviors and their neural underpinnings. To address this, we developed CAPTURE (Continuous Appendicular and Postural Tracking Using Retroreflector Embedding), a behavioral monitoring system that combines motion capture and deep learning to continuously track the 3D kinematics of a rat’s head, trunk, and limbs for week-long timescales in freely behaving animals. CAPTURE realizes 10- to 100-fold gains in precision and robustness compared with existing convolutional network approaches to behavioral tracking. We demonstrate CAPTURE’s ability to comprehensively profile the kinematics and sequential organization of natural rodent behavior, its variation across individuals, and its perturbation by drugs and disease, including identifying perseverative grooming states in a rat model of fragile X syndrome. CAPTURE significantly expands the range of behaviors and contexts that can be quantitatively investigated, opening the door to a new understanding of natural behavior and its neural basis. [Display omitted] •CAPTURE can track a rat’s whole-body movements in 3D across days•It is far superior in resolution and reliability to existing tracking approaches•It allows comprehensive profiling of behavioral kinematics, usage, and hierarchy•We demonstrate detailed phenotypic analysis after drugs and in Fmr1-KO rats Marshall et al. present CAPTURE, a new method for long-term continuous 3D motion tracking in freely behaving rats. Combining motion capture, body piercings, and deep learning, CAPTURE improves tracking precision many-fold over existing techniques. Comprehensive profiling of behavioral kinematics, usage, and hierarchical structure in normal and diseased animals is demonstrated.