Running Wheels

Voluntary & Active Wheels for Rodents

Table of Contents
running wheel

Voluntary Running Wheel

Wheel running is a widely utilized method for assessing voluntary physical activity in rodents, particularly in the study of circadian rhythms. Additionally, running wheels can function as environmental enrichment, enhancing animal welfare during prolonged experiments.

TSE Running Wheels for rats and mice are ingeniously suspended from the home cage lid, optimizing living space for the animal. This setup seamlessly integrates with ActiMot3 frames, enabling comprehensive evaluation of total activity levels. The optional Motor Skill drum boasts removable rods, allowing for the creation of irregular rod patterns. This sophisticated wheel is a potent tool for early detection of motor deficits, surpassing traditional tests like the RotaRod in efficacy.

Active Running Wheel

Active running wheels offer a compelling solution for inducing controlled locomotor activity in rodents for studies on exercise physiology and sleep-wake regulation. Unlike traditional wheels, these innovative systems feature a motorized design that encourages even animals exhibiting low baseline activity levels to engage in running behavior.

Tailored Exercise Paradigms:

  • Effortless Speed Adjustments: Precisely adjust motor speed to create customized exercise protocols catering to specific experimental needs.
  • Stand-Alone or Integrated: Utilize active wheels as independent units or seamlessly integrate them into computer-controlled systems for enhanced research flexibility.

Enhanced Research Efficiency and Experimental Precision:

  • Automated Protocols: Computer-controlled systems enable the creation and automated application of personalized speed profiles, streamlining your research workflow and ensuring consistent protocol execution.
  • Precise Control of Exercise Intensity: Gain superior control over the intensity of exercise stimuli, leading to more robust and reproducible experimental data.

Features

90° resolution for left and right rotation

Enable/Disable the function to control access to the wheel running by time and distance

Workload option for resistance running and motivation studies

Complex wheel with removable rods for motor skills test

Suitable for various applications

Fully automated and made of stainless steel

running wheel

Metabolic Running Wheel

Introducing a groundbreaking substitute for the metabolic treadmill: our motorized running wheel, enclosed within an air-tight compartment. This innovative model features both air inlet and outlet ports, facilitating the sampling of O2 and CO2 for precise metabolic measurements. With this setup, researchers can calculate various calorimetric parameters, including energy expenditure and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during exercise. These advanced calorimetric wheels, dubbed “Calo-Wheels,” are exclusively computer-controlled for enhanced accuracy. Moreover, within the PhenoMaster system, exercise calorimetry wheels can seamlessly integrate inside the home cage, offering unparalleled convenience and versatility.

Publications

Achamrah, N., Nobis, S., Breton, J., Jésus, P., Belmonte, L., Maurer, B., Legrand, R., Bôle-Feysot, C., Rego, J. L. do, Goichon, A., Rego, J. C. do, Déchelotte, P., Fetissov, S. O., Claeyssens, S., & Coëffier, M. (2016). Maintaining physical activity during refeeding improves body composition, intestinal hyperpermeability and behavior in anorectic mice. Scientific Reports, 6(1), Article 1.

D’Hulst, G., Masschelein, E., & De Bock, K. (2022). Resistance exercise enhances long-term mTORC1 sensitivity to leucine. Molecular Metabolism, 66, 101615.

Hitrec, T., Petit, C., Cryer, E., Muir, C., Tal, N., Fustin, J.-M., Hughes, A. T. L., & Piggins, H. D. (2023). Timed exercise stabilizes behavioral rhythms but not molecular programs in the brain’s suprachiasmatic clock. iScience, 26(2), 106002.

Kim, H. J., Kim, Y. J., Kim, Y. J., Baek, J. H., Kim, H. S., Kim, I. Y., & Seong, J. K. (2023). Microbiota influences host exercise capacity via modulation of skeletal muscle glucose metabolism in mice. Experimental & Molecular Medicine, 55(8), Article 8.

Niiranen, L., Stenbäck, V., Tulppo, M., Herzig, K.-H., & Mäkelä, K. A. (2023). Interplay between Learning and Voluntary Wheel Running in Male C57BL/6NCrl Mice. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(5), Article 5.

Wilke, J. B. H., Hindermann, M., Berghoff, S. A., Zihsler, S., Arinrad, S., Ronnenberg, A., Barnkothe, N., Steixner-Kumar, A. A., Röglin, S., Stöcker, W., Hollmann, M., Nave, K.-A., Lühder, F., & Ehrenreich, H. (2021). Autoantibodies against NMDA receptor 1 modify rather than cause encephalitis. Molecular Psychiatry, 26(12), Article 12.