The Sucrose Preference Test (SPT) is a simple behavioral test widely used to assess motivation, depression (and anhedonia) and related emotional states in rodents. In SPT test, rodents typically exhibit a natural preference for palatable sweet solutions, and it is therefore assumed that such preference is correlated with the pleasure an animal experience when it consumes sucrose. This SPT system features real-time statistics, automation and high accuracy, which greatly improves the efficiency of drug research and reduces the data bias and error caused by manual operation.Our SPT system record the total drinking time and times, liquid weight and other indicators in real time in free moving animals, and multi-channels can be conducted at the same time.Application: Pharmacology, Pharmacodynamics, Toxicology, Nutrition, Obesity Metabolism, Diabetes, Cardiovascular, Transgenic etc.
The Sucrose Preference Test (SPT) is a simple behavioral test widely used to assess motivation, depression (and anhedonia) and related emotional states in rodents. In SPT test, rodents typically exhibit a natural preference for palatable sweet solutions, and it is therefore assumed that such preference is correlated with the pleasure an animal experience when it consumes sucrose.
However, during the manual Sucrose Preference Test, researchers often encounter the following series of problems:
In terms of Operation:
1. Manual operation is cumbersome
In manual operation, researchers need to frequently change the sucrose water bottles and clear water bottles.
After each bottle change, thorough cleaning and disinfection are also required to prevent cross-contamination.
2. Lack of real-time monitoring
Manual methods cannot provide real-time information on the animals’ drinking behavior. Researchers can only check the scale changes of the bottles at certain intervals (such as every few hours or daily) to estimate the animals’ water intake.
3. Difficult to operate multiple channels simultaneously
When conducting sucrose water preference experiments on multiple groups of animals simultaneously, manual techniques find it hard to achieve synchronized operation. This significantly reduces the repeatability of the experiment and the comparability of the data.
In terms of Data accuracy:
1. Large data deviations and errors.
Manual reading of the scale to measure the consumption of liquid is prone to errors.
2. Interference with animal stress responses
In manual experiments, animals need to be frequently removed from their cages for operations such as weighing or changing water bottles. These operations can cause stress responses in animals, for instance, mice may exhibit behavioral changes such as anxiety and reduced activity.
3. Lack of detail data
Conventional or manual sucrose preference test can only provide relatively simple data, such as the total consumption of sugar water and pure water. However, more detailed data on drinking behavior, such as the duration of each drinking episode, the intervals between drinks, and changes in drinking preferences at different times of the day, cannot be obtained.
SANS automatic sucrose preference test uses the micro injection pump for water supply and has the advantages of real-time statistics, automation, and high accuracy. It significantly improves the efficiency of drug research and basic life science research, and fundamentally reduces data deviations and errors caused by manual operations.
The Sucrose Preference Test is widely cited in behavioral neuroscience and pharmacological studies as a reliable method for evaluating anhedonia and emotional states in rodent models. It has been frequently applied in research on depression, drug screening, and neuropsychiatric disorders, demonstrating strong reproducibility and scientific credibility.
