NemoClinics : technology

Non invasive monitoring of vital functions at birth

NemoClinics designed an innovative and patented device to monitor vital functions in newborn mice and rats (PhysioPups). PhysioPups allows non-invasive and simultaneous recording of breathing, heart rate, ultrasonic vocalisations, body temperature and metabolism (O₂ consumption). Four animals can be monitored simultaneously. Recording, storage and processing are fully automated.

The PhysioPups device opens the way to high throughput screening of genetically engineered rodents since birth, and testing of drug effects on main functions development.

This technology has already proven to be pivotal for genetic models study during the neonatal period

• Ventilatory response to hyperoxia in newborn mice heterozygous for the transcription factor Phox2b, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2006.
• Effects of temperature on ventilatory response to hypercapnia in newborn mice heterozygous for transcription factor Phox2b, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol . 2007
• A human mutation in Phox2b causes lack of CO2 chemosensitivity, fatal central apnea, and specific loss of parafacial neurons, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008
• Reduced social interaction and ultrasonic communication in a mouse model of monogenic heritable autism, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008
• Cold stimulates the behavioral response to hypoxia in newborn mice, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol . 2009
• Systemic inflammation disrupts the developmental program of white matter, Ann Neurol. 2011
• Breathing without CO(2) chemosensitivity in conditional Phox2b mutants, J Neurosci. 2011
• Impaired ventilatory and thermoregulatory responses to hypoxic stress in newborn phox2b heterozygous knock-out mice, Front Physiol. 2011
• The vesicular glutamate transporter VGLUT3 contributes to protection against neonatal hypoxic stress, J Physiol. 2012
• Hyperactivation of Alk induces neonatal lethality in knock-in AlkF1178L mice, Oncotarget. 2014
• Safety study of Ciprofloxacin in newborn mice, Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2016
• Acetylcholine Modulates the Hormones of the Growth Hormone/Insulinlike Growth Factor-1 Axis During Development in Mice, Endocrinology. 2018
• Myelination induction by a histamine H3 receptor antagonist in a mouse model of preterm white matter injury, Brain Behav Immun. 2018
• Breathing under Anesthesia: A Key Role for the Retrotrapezoid Nucleus Revealed by Conditional Phox2b Mutant Mice, Anesthesiology. 2019

Cognitive and sensorimotor testing

NemoClinics devised new methods of classical and operant conditioning for learning abilities evaluation (Bouslama, Durand et al. 2005; Bollen 2012). They have been applied to brain lesions models (Bouslama, Chauviere et al. 2006; Bouslama, Renaud et al. 2007). Automated tests with the MemoryPups device guarantees a high reproducibility of results.

Additionnaly, NemoClinics developed a new device integrating innovative lighting and video recording technologies (NeoGait). It allows full characterization and quantitative scoring of the postnatal stages of gait development in newborn rodent (crawling, pelvic lift, pivoting, coordinated gait). The device has already been used in a neurodevelopmental study (Dehorter, Michel et al. 2011).

NemoClinics also performs psychomotor tests known as the Fox Battery (Fox et al. 1965) during the first weeks of life and Digigait® evaluation in adult mice.

Research and development

NemoClinics is continuously working on innovative technologies for newborn rodents phenotyping, including:

• Thoraco-abdominal asynchrony
• Pneumotachography
• Neonatal resuscitation