AHCODA Data analysis

Sylics offers cloud-based analysis tools for users of automated home-cages.

Automated data analysis

AHCODA™ is a set of integrated data analysis services to convert raw data obtained in home-cages (video tracking, running wheels, EEG) into readily interpretable data sets. Thereby, it provides a standardized, practical and rapid solution for the analysis of complex behavioural data sets into meaningful results. AHCODA is available as a cloud-based service on a Pay-Per-Use basis. Please contact us if you are interested in using AHCODA to streamline data analysis at your facility.

At Sylics, several PhenoTyper testing protocols have been developed to measure spontaneous behavior, anxiety (LightSpot tets), avoidance learning (Shelter illumination) and discrimination and reversal learning (CognitionWall). AHCODA is used to analyse the data produced by these testing protocol into meaningful publication ready figures and statistics.

Analysis of video tracking data obtained in home-cages

Automated home-cages such as the PhenoTyper (Noldus IT, The Netherlands) collect a wealth of data that needs to be analysed in order to produce relevant information. Processing, quality checking, analyzing, and visualizing this data is an extremely complex and time-consuming job. At Sylics, we have developed a range of analysis modules for published testing protocols, ranging from Spontaneous Behavior, Anxiety to Cognition. Sylics is developing and validating new testing protocols for both mice and rats. These modules produce relevant behavioral parameters and statistics. Our specialized analysis software for automated home-cage data, AHCODA, rapidly performs all these tasks – fully automated. At your research facility, AHCODA-CloudConnect will upload your data to our servers, where it will be quality checked, processed, and subsequently stored in your database. Within 24 hours, data is visualized on your private website, with publication-ready figures and statistics.

Analysis of running wheel data obtained in home-cages

When housed in a cage that is equipped with a running wheel, mice will voluntarily start running in it. Voluntary wheel running can be used to assess the physical performance, model exercise training, and general health of mice. This setup is therefore useful to detect pharmacological effects on activity, circadian rhythms, and endurance. Rotations are detected at high temporal resolution. These rotations can be analyzed with Sylics’ AHCODA software, to generate parameters of activity and circadian rhythms.

When placed in a cage equipped with a Running Wheel, mice require 5 – 10 days to reach a stable activity level and circadian rhythm (~8 days for this mouse).
Telemetry implant to measure EEG and EMG simultaneously.

Analysis of EEG/EMG data obtained in home-cages

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an electrophysiological method to record neuronal activity from neurons through the scalp, which is useful in the detection of, for example, sleep stages and seizure activity in humans. Similarly, by implanting electrodes superficially on the cortex of mice, intracranial EEG (a.k.a. electrocorticography, ECoG) is performed in freely moving mice to record directly from the brain. minute movements can accurately be tracked automatically by measure electromyography (EMG), in the neck muscle. By combining EEG with EMG, a more accurate description of seizure-like phenotypes and putative drug responses is generated. AHCODA integrates both video tracking data with EEG/EMG data to accurately identify epochs of interest in the data.

AHCODA-DB for integration and meta analyses of datasets

AHCODA-DB can be used by our clients to perform meta-analyses on their own datasets, in combination with published datasets that are freely available in the database. AHCODA-DB can be used for the integral analysis of many behavioural parameters with the aim of detecting behavioural effects induced by genetic mutations, experimental compounds, and environmental manipulations (effect size plots). Please visit the public version of AHCODA-DB website to explore the possibilities.

Effect size plot showing the decrease in velocity and activity during the dark phase in ageing mice in comparison with neurodegeneration models.

Advantages of AHCODA:

Automated data analysis and interpretation

Standardized, reproducible and cost-effective

Built on a decade of experience

Minimal initial investment required; data analysis on a Pay-Per-Use basis

The AHCODA platform is constantly extended with new analyses

Koopmans et al. (2017) BMC Bioinformatics

Koopmans B, Smit AB, Verhage M, Loos M. AHCODA-DB: a data repository with web-based mining tools for the analysis of automated high-content mouse phenomics data. BMC Bioinformatics. 2017 Apr 4;18(1):200. doi: 10.1186/s12859-017-1612-1. PMID: 28376796; PMCID: PMC5379645. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28376796/

Keywords: Phenotyper, AHCODA

More information

Please reach out to us if you want to learn more about our AHCODA Data Analysis solutions. We will contact you within 1 business day.

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