Waterwheel Forced Swim Test

The Waterwheel Forced Swim Test (WFST) automatically scores active escapes and eliminates the subjectivity of immobility measurements. Automatically scored wheel rotations directly correspond to active escape attempts.

Waterwheel Forced Swim Test

Also known as the Nomura method, the Waterwheel Forced Swim Test (WFST) automatically scores wheel rotations, corresponding to escape behaviors, which have been shown to increase with administration of antidepressants.

The apparatus consists of a transparent water tank dimensioned 20(lw)x8(d)x18(h)cm. A waterwheel is positioned in the center of the tank. The waterwheel has a diameter of 3.5cm and is 8cm wide; six 0.5cm paddles are evenly positioned on the wheel surface.

A temperature sensor, which can be placed on either side of the tank, provides a feedback of the water temperature. The number of wheel rotations (Clockwise and Counter Clockwise) are scored by a precision rotation encoder. The WFST device connects to the PC via a USB cable provided as standard. Several tanks can be connected to the same PC via a USB hub.

Use with ANY-maze (60000-FST) provides realt time feedback of temperature and automatically scores number of wheel rotations.

Features:
· Compact and user friendly, for high-throughput tests
· Use with ANY-maze for automatic scoring and data analysis
· Waterwheel rotations are detected via a precision rotating encoder
· Feedback on water temperature is given by a sensor, included as standard

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