MEASUREMENTS OF BEHAVIOR IN THE NAKED MOLE-RAT AFTER INTRAPERITONEAL IMPLANTATION OF A RADIOTELEMETRY SYSTEM

The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a unique fossorial mamma l that is eusocial, object blind, and virtually poikilothermic. This a nimal is an ideal model to examine questions pertaining to the thermor egulatory aspects of sleep/wake cycles and other circadian events. How ever, the monitoring of mammalian sleep usually involves implanting pe rmanent electrodes into the skull which are linked to a counter-weight ed cable apparatus. This is not;a. viable option for H. glaber because of the tunneled environments and sensitive social milieu. Instead, to monitor sleep, core temperature, and activity we have utilized intrap eritoneal telemetry, a technique that transmits biopotential signals b y radio waves. Here we describe the surgical procedure used to implant the device, the anesthesia technique developed, and the social reintr oduction method devised for this novel animal model. (C) 1948 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.