SwiftRESEARCH · Research services
Kaolin pica studies in rats
Rats cannot vomit: after an emetic stimulus they eat kaolin, a clay with no nutritional value, so kaolin intake is read as a sign of nausea-like malaise. We analyze it from your intake data and video, or plan the capture with you.
- Species
- Rats
- View
- A camera on each cage with the kaolin and the food in view, where video is part of the study
What we measure
The endpoints, defined with you before scoring
Kaolin intake
Grams of kaolin eaten per animal in each period your protocol sets, for example each 24 hours after treatment, with spillage taken into account.
Food intake and body weight
Food eaten and body weight over the same periods, so lower food intake can be read next to kaolin intake.
Change from baseline
Each animal against its own baseline days, and kaolin intake against food intake, as your analysis plan sets.
Kaolin eating on video
Where your protocol calls for it, time spent eating kaolin and the number of kaolin-eating bouts, scored by trained reviewers.
Two ways to start
Footage you have, or a capture we plan with you
Analyze footage you already have
Send authorized recordings and your study design. We score a sample first and tell you what can be measured, then the full set.
Capture with us
We plan the recording with you on a supported camera setup, your team runs the test under your approved protocol, and we take it from the footage to reviewed results.
How it is scored: Intake comes from your weights; any video is scored by trained reviewers against the definitions agreed with you, and checked by a person before results reach you.
What you receive
Results you can check, and what we need from you
You receive
- A table per animal and period: kaolin intake, food intake, body weight and the agreed ratios.
- Group summaries, with the statistics agreed in your scope.
- Where video is scored: kaolin-eating time and bouts per animal and period, with scored examples you can check.
- The rules used for spillage, baselines and exclusions.
We need
- Kaolin and food weights per animal at each weighing, with spillage where it is collected.
- Your treatment schedule, the baseline (habituation) days and the periods to report.
- Video of the cages with the kaolin in view, if kaolin eating is to be scored.
- Animal IDs and groups, coded if you want the analysis blind to group.
The test
Where it comes from
Mitchell and colleagues (1976) showed that poisons lead rats to eat kaolin. Takeda and colleagues (1993) found that apomorphine, copper sulfate and cisplatin raised kaolin intake with the dose, and that antiemetics reduced it: pica in rats behaves as an analogue of vomiting.
- Mitchell D, Wells C, Hoch N, Lind K, Woods SC, Mitchell LK (1976). Poison induced pica in rats. Physiology & Behavior 17:691–697. doi:10.1016/0031-9384(76)90171-2
- Takeda N, Hasegawa S, Morita M, Matsunaga T (1993). Pica in rats is analogous to emesis: an animal model in emesis research. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 45:817–821. doi:10.1016/0091-3057(93)90126-e
Questions
Why kaolin, and why rats?
Rats cannot vomit. After emetic stimuli they eat kaolin, a clay with no nutritional value, so kaolin intake is used as a sign of nausea-like malaise.
When is it used?
In nausea and emesis research, and with appetite and weight-loss compounds: next to food intake and the behavioral satiety sequence, it helps judge whether lower intake comes with signs of malaise.
Do you run the animals?
Your team, or the facility you work with, runs the study under your approved protocol. We help plan the recording, then score and analyze it.
How is it priced?
Each project gets a written scope and quote: inputs, deliverables, how results are reviewed and the price. Academic labs get a discount, shown in the quote.
More assays
Other assays we score
Novel object recognition (NOR)
Exploration of each object and the discrimination index, phase by phase.
Behavioral satiety sequence (BSS)
Eating, grooming, activity and resting after a meal, bin by bin.
Home-cage activity and sleep-like rest
24-hour activity, light and dark phases, and sleep-like rest bouts.
Social interaction and three-chamber tests
Three-chamber sociability and social novelty, and free interaction.
Open field test
Distance moved, time in the center, thigmotaxis and rearing.
We also scope the elevated plus maze, Y-maze, fear conditioning (freezing), nest building and marble burying, and other tests: describe yours.
Tell us about your study
The endpoint, your species, and whether you already have footage or need help capturing it.