RM-80 respiration monitor User Manual September 18, 2015 0025-003M 950 North Hague Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43204-2121 USA Sales: sales@colinst.com Service: service@colinst.com Phone: (614) 276-0861 Fax: (614) 276-0529 Toll Free: 1-800-669-5011 http://www.colinst.com
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Overview... 2 1.1 Overview... 2 1.2 Specification... 3 1.3 Inputs... 4 1.4 Front panel controls and indicators... 5 Chapter 2 Tubing connections... 6 2.1 Tubing connections... 6 I... 8 2.2 Cable connections... 12 Chapter 3 Software Setup... 13 3.1 Software installation... 13 Chapter 4 Operation... 15 4.1 Chamber setup... 15 4.2 Experiment setup... 15 4.3 Running Experiment... 18 1
Chapter 1 Overview 1.1 Overview The Columbus Instruments RM-80 Respiration Frequency Monitor measures breaths per minute (BPM) in unrestrained mice and rats. Each subject is placed into a small chamber and the system measures changes in chamber pressure that result from the subject s respiration. The Respiration rate is then captured by the CI Multi-device software on a user based interval schedule The essentials of an RM-80 System consist of a pressure sensor, animal chamber, reference chamber, and a fresh air delivery system. The pressure sensor measures differential pressure between the animal chamber and the reference chamber with each breath. A microprocessor inside the RM-80 analyzes the resulting waveform of these small pressure changes and reports the frequency as BPM. The fresh air delivery system refreshes the air in both chambers for proper animal ventilation but does so through a special buffering chamber to greatly reduce air turbulence and background noise. The RM-80 has a buffered analog signal direct from the pressure sensor. In typical setups the BPM output is connected to a PC via USB. Software is included with the counter interface and BPM are recorded on an interval basis. Collecting data in this fashion allows the researcher to ignore the initial sniffing behavior and focus on resting BPM. The analog signal is provided for those adventurous enough to perform their own analysis on the pressure waveform (requires connection to a 3rd party A/D data acquisition system). 2
1.2 Specification RM-80 Basic Specifications Number of Channels: Range: Accuracy: Sensitivity: 1 to 4 depending upon Configuration 20-720 BPM(Breaths Per Minute) 2% 60-600BPM Standard Rm-80 system will detect mouse Respiration in a 3 liter sealed cage volume Power Requirements Maximum of 50 watts (100-240 VAC, 50-60 HZ) Size and Weight Control unit size: Control unit weight: 14" x 11.5" x 4" (35cm x 29cm x 10cm) 6.2 pounds (2.8 kg) 3
1.3 Inputs The only inputs to the RM-80 are the Transducer Inputs and Reference connections. Each channel will have its own Transducer Input as well as its own Reference Connection. These connect to the animals chambers with ¼ tubing. Be very careful when connecting the hoses. The Transducers that these tubes connect to will be permanently damaged if they are pressurized to a pressure more than 0.2 PSIG. 1 Reference input This is where the tube from the reference chamber connects for each corresponding channel. 2 Cage input This is where the tube from the reference chamber connects for each corresponding channel. 3 Power input The supplied 12V dc wall adapter connects here to supply the RM- 80 power 4 CI bus This is where the standard RJ-45 network cable connects the RM- 80 to the Columbus Instruments hub box. The hub box is an interface to the computer. 4
1.4 Front panel controls and indicators A list of the front panel controls and table of their functions is shown below 1 Audio select switch This selects which channel s breath detection is output the the internal speaker. Each breath detected by RM-80 for the currently selected channel will be indicated by a beep from the speaker. This is useful for adjusting the breath signal sensitivity control for the currently selected channel 2 Breath signal sensitivity This control adjust the gain (sensitivity) of the pressure sensor amplifier for the corresponding channel. Adjustment of this control is described in the operation section. 3 Respiration indicator This led blinks with each detected breath 4 Ref overpressure indicator 5 Ref overpressure indicator This led lights if overpressure is indicated in the reference chamber. This is caused by the overflow tube or port being blocked. If this occurs the blockage must be resolved This led lights if overpressure is indicated in the reference chamber. This is caused by the overflow tube or port being blocked. If this occurs the blockage must be resolved 5
Chapter 2 Tubing connections 2.1 Tubing connections Quick-connect fittings are used to make an air-tight connection. They are commonly found near components of the system that may require frequent maintenance (such as filters) or around components which modify the operation of the system (such as flow restrictors). To make a connection, ensure there are no frayed edges on the end of the tube. If required, trim the end of the plastic tube with a sharp implement (tube cutter preferred) as square as possible. Fully insert the tube into the plastic fitting, through the resistance, until it stops (about 1.5cm for most fittings). The tube should not pull free from the fitting (the dark gray collar will travel and rotate with the tube). To remove the tube from the connector, press and hold the dark gray collar against the body of the fitting. Now pull the tube free from the fitting. 6
Connect the fresh air supply pump to the damping chamber as shown below. 7
I If the system is used for rats, connect 2 outputs from the pump together with a T fitting to supply the animal(s) with more air as shown below, 8
Connect the tube(s) from the damping chamber to the animal chamber and reference chamber as shown below. 9
10 Connect short (18 ) pieces to the overflow fitting on the animal chamber and reference chamber as shown below. These provide some restriction to the air coming out of the chamber to give better signal to the pressure sensor.
Connect the output from the animal chamber and reference chamber to the RM-80 input as shown below. 11
2.2 Cable connections Connect the RJ-45 cable between the CI bus hub box and the RM-80 as shown below. Do not connect the USB cable between the CI bus hub box to the computer until after the software is installed 12
Chapter 3 Software Setup 3.1 Software installation The host computer is expected to be a IBM-PC compatible running a Windows operating system (98, ME, 2000, NT, XP, Vista, 7). It must have a minimum of: 128MB of memory, 1GB of free hard drive space, CD-ROM drive (for installation), and 1024 x 768 VGA color display Insert the supplied CD ROM into the CD ROM drive Navigate to the CD-ROM. Double click on setup.exe The following screens will appear. Close all other programs and Click OK to continue 13
It is strongly recommended to install the program in the default location. Click on the computer icon box to continue. Next the USB driver will be installed: Click the install button. This completes the software installation. The USB cable from the CI hub box to the computer can now be connected 14
Chapter 4 Operation 4.1 Chamber setup Set the control on top of the fresh air pump (if equipped) to it s maximum value (fully clockwise) Place the animal(s) into the RM-80 chambers and close the lid. Bedding can be placed in the chamber to help acclimate the animal. For each channel used make the breathing sensitivity adjustment as follows: Turn the Audio Select control switch to the chamber (cage) to be adjusted Turn the breathing sensitivity control for the channel being adjusted to it s lowest setting (fully counter clockwise) With the animal calm and not moving, observe it s respiration. Slowly increase the breathing sensitivity control until the beeping from the RM-80 corresponds to the breathing of the animal. Lock the control. Typically a value of 1 on the control dial will correspond to a rat and 2 for a mouse. Repeat for each channel used. 4.2 Experiment setup From the main menu choose Experiment Setup 15
The experiment setup screen will be displayed Click the box on the right side of the experiment filename box to open the save file dialog. Select a location where the experiment data is to be saved and file name then click open. Select Session Interval. This determines how frequently the respiration rate of each chamber is saved to the data file. If desired, Staggered Start can be enabled. The purpose of staggered start is to allow the start of each chamber independently. This is useful for example when dosing animals with a compound then placing them in a chamber. If Staggered Start is not enabled, all chambers will start collecting data immediately after starting the experiment. 16
Each chamber can be enabled or disabled by clicking in the enable column for the channel(s) that are to be disabled Double click in the Cage label column for each enabled cage to enter identification information about the respective subject 17
4.3 Running Experiment From the experiment setup screen click run on the bottom of the screen. If staggered start is enabled, the following screen will be displayed; otherwise the system will start collecting data at the specified interval. When it is desired to start a chamber, click in the box in the status column that corresponds to the channel to be started. It will be queued, then started. 18
The data format consists of the interval number (sample number) cage number, time and date that the reading was taken, and the respiration rate in breaths per minute. Note the data file format is CSV which stands for comma separated value. This is a standard format and will import directly to excel or other data analysis programs 19
20 The graphing tab is useful to look at the respiration rate over time to identify resting period which give the best respiration rate data.