MECs.docx

USAMRICD requests a behavioral monitoring suite for evaluation of physiological responses to treatment with various medical countermeasures. The system should have the following characteristics:

1. Able to conduct simultaneous studies on 16 rodents (rats or mice) with readouts of: calorimetry (O2 to CO2 conversion); respiratory rate; running wheel activity (in mice only); and movement in the X and Z axes (with sensitivity of less than 2 cm).

2. Data collection is automated, with all software and hardware provided. Data must be input into a typical desktop computer (4 GB RAM, single-core 1.5 GHz processor running Windows 7) via a USB cable; otherwise, if a special card is required, that must be provided.

3. Data analysis software must be provided, as well as the ability to export data from all measurements in a format compatible with Excel and/or Graphpad Prism (e.g., in a csv or tab delimited file format).

4. Data analysis should be able to report respiratory rates as a function of time, running wheel activity in terms of distance and time; horizontal and vertical movements in terms of time; and calorimetry data in terms of time.

5. Footprint per 16 cages to fit within a provided cage rack that is no more than 3 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 6 feet high.

6. Able to conduct calorimetry studies by measuring O2 and CO2 differentials (between air entering and leaving the cage) with a precision that is less than 0.5%, with measurements occurring at least once every 2 min.

7. Able to continually monitor respiration rates without instrumenting the animal directly (e.g., non-invasively).

8. Running wheels must be of the vertical variety without rungs (e.g., a solid, textured surface).

9. Includes all cages, cage lids, running wheel and electrical hookups to monitor 16 rats or 16 mice simultaneously.

10. Be expandable to at least 100 rodents upon purchase of additional cages, hardware controllers and connectors.

11. System is a turn-key solution, with all hardware (other than the computer) and software provided.