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J Neurophysiol (August 18, 2004). doi:10.1152/jn.00608.2004
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Submitted on June 15, 2004
Accepted on August 6, 2004

Quantitative characterization and classification of leech behavior

Alberto Mazzoni1, Elizabeth Garcia-Perez1, Davide Zoccolan2, Sergio Graziosi1, and Vincent Torre1*

1 Neurobiology, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati and INFM, Trieste, Italy
2 Neurobiology, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati and INFM, Trieste, Italy; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: torre{at}sissa.it.

This paper describes an automatic system for the analysis and classification of leech behavior. Three colored beads were attached to the dorsal side of a free moving or pinned leech, and a color CCD camera images the animal. The leech was restrained to move in a small tank or Petri dish, where the water level can be varied. An automatic system based on color processing tracked the colored beads over time allowing real time monitoring of the leech motion for several hours. At the end of each experimental session, six time series (two for each bead) describing the leech body motion were obtained. A statistical analysis based on the speed and frequency content of bead motion, indicated the existence of several stereotypical patterns of motion, corresponding to different leech behaviors. The identified patterns corresponded to swimming, pseudo-swimming, crawling, exploratory behavior, stationary states, abrupt movements, and combinations of these behaviors. The automatic characterization of leech behavior demonstrated here represents an important step towards understanding leech behavior and its properties. This method can be used to characterize the behavior of other invertebrates, and also for some small vertebrates.




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