Telemetry in Mice: Applications in Studies of Stress and Anxiety Disorders

Telemetry in mice can be a powerful tool for assessing physiological responses to emotional stimuli. It can provide continuously recorded data over the course of the stress response and can be incorporated into established behavioral paradigms and procedures in a relatively seamless fashion. Our lab has been using telemetry in conjunction with behavioral paradigms to study the relationship between anxiety and sleep in mouse models for several years. This chapter discusses some of the current, commercially available telemetry systems, how telemetry compares to other recording methods and a number of its advantages and disadvantages. A crucial requirement for implementing telemetry in mice is successful surgery leading to fully recovered, healthy animals and ultimately the recording of the desired signals. We provide detailed surgical procedures for implanting mice for telemetry. We also provide an example experimental protocol integrating telemetry with behavioral training and sleep recording and discuss solutions for problems that may be encountered in implementing telemetry in mice.