LumiCycle In Vivo is designed to record PER-LUC light emissions from awake behaving animals placed in a standard mouse cage and infused with luciferin analogs. (Specifications).
For over a decade, it has been possible to record PER-LUC light emission from isolated tissues and cells. As methods and signals improve, it is now possible to record light emission from intact, behaving animals, opening up a wide range of experiments on the interactions among the clocks in different organs operating in their natural environment. LumiCycle In Vivo is a simple, robust apparatus for recording luminescence from intact animals, while simultaneously recording activity, monitoring light, temperature, and humidity within the chamber, and controlling the lights in infinitely programmable skeleton schedules.
Luminescence data from a PER-LUC mouse fitted with a luciferin mini-pump (Courtesy Prof. Mary Harrington, Smith College).
Two PMTs for even sensitivity across the cage area.
Red-shifted PMT sensitivity to accommodate the absorption of green photons by the intervening tissues.
Activity input for recording through a running wheel or IR motion sensor.
Programmable LED lights in each chamber for creating skeleton light schedules.
Light levels, temperature and humidity recorded continuously for animal care and use monitoring.
High-capacity internal fan for 15 air changes per hour.
Up to 8 units can be run on one computer. Recording on each unit can be started and stopped independently, and each can be given its own light schedule.
Data can be viewed and analyzed in the LumiCycle Analysis or ClockLab Analysis programs.
The LumiCycle In Vivo front panel, showing ongoing collection of counts for 4 animals (2 PMTs), together with temperature, humidity, light levels (Lux) and the current setting for the LED illuminator. The graph below is the second-by-second photon count for the currently selected channel (4).
