An open-source tool for automated analysis of breathing behaviors in common marmosets and rodents

• Published in: eLife Vol. 11
• Main Authors: Bishop, Mitchell, Weinhold, Maximilian, Turk, Ariana Z, Adeck, Afuh, SheikhBahaei, Shahriar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 20.01.2022; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Animals; Behavior; breathing behavior; Callithrix - physiology; Carbon dioxide; common marmoset; Electronic Data Processing - instrumentation; Female; Females; Gender differences; Hypercapnia; Hypoxia; Male; Mechanical ventilation; Metabolic rate; Metabolism; Neuroscience; Neurosciences; Rats - physiology; Respiration; Respiratory system; Rodents; sigh; Software; Ventilation; breathing behavior; hypoxia; sigh; neuroscience; common marmoset; hypercapnia; metabolism
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.71647

The respiratory system maintains homeostatic levels of oxygen (O ) and carbon dioxide (CO ) in the body through rapid and efficient regulation of breathing frequency and depth (tidal volume). The commonly used methods of analyzing breathing data in behaving experimental animals are usually subjective, laborious, and time-consuming. To overcome these hurdles, we optimized an analysis toolkit for the unsupervised study of respiratory activities in animal subjects. Using this tool, we analyzed breathing behaviors of the common marmoset ( ), a New World non-human primate model. Using whole-body plethysmography in room air as well as acute hypoxic (10% O ) and hypercapnic (6% CO ) conditions, we describe breathing behaviors in awake, freely behaving marmosets. Our data indicate that marmosets' exposure to acute hypoxia decreased metabolic rate and increased sigh rate. However, the hypoxic condition did not augment ventilation. Hypercapnia, on the other hand, increased both the frequency and depth (i.e., tidal volume) of breathing.