EasyFlyTracker: A Simple Video Tracking Python Package for Analyzing Adult Drosophila Locomotor and Sleep Activity to Facilitate Revealing the Effect of Psychiatric Drugs

The mechanism of psychiatric drugs (stimulant and non-stimulant) is still unclear. Precision medication of psychiatric disorders faces challenges in pharmacogenetics and pharmacodynamics research due to difficulties in recruiting human subjects because of possibility of substance abuse and relativel...

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Published in:Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience Vol. 15; p. 809665
Main Authors: Qu, Susu, Zhu, Qingjie, Zhou, Han, Gao, Yuan, Wei, Yi, Ma, Yuan, Wang, Zhicheng, Sun, Xueting, Zhang, Lei, Yang, Quanjun, Kong, Lei, Zhang, Li
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 10.02.2022
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects:
Algorithms
Animal models
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Behavior
Camcorders
Cameras
Circadian rhythm
Computer programs
Drosophila
Drug abuse
Drugs
Hyperactivity
hyperactivity-like behavior
Insects
locomotor activity
Mental disorders
Methylphenidate
Neuroscience
Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacogenetics
psychiatric drug
Sleep
Software
Statistical analysis
video tracking software
hyperactivity-like behavior
locomotor activity
psychiatric drug
Drosophila
video tracking software
ISSN:1662-5153, 1662-5153
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Summary:The mechanism of psychiatric drugs (stimulant and non-stimulant) is still unclear. Precision medication of psychiatric disorders faces challenges in pharmacogenetics and pharmacodynamics research due to difficulties in recruiting human subjects because of possibility of substance abuse and relatively small sample sizes. Drosophila is a powerful animal model for large-scale studies of drug effects based on the precise quantification of behavior. However, a user-friendly system for high-throughput simultaneous tracking and analysis of drug-treated individual adult flies is still lacking. It is critical to quickly setup a working environment including both the hardware and software at a reasonable cost. Thus, we have developed EasyFlyTracker, an open-source Python package that can track single fruit fly in each arena and analyze Drosophila locomotor and sleep activity based on video recording to facilitate revealing the psychiatric drug effects. The current version does not support multiple fruit fly tracking. Compared with existing software, EasyFlyTracker has the advantages of low cost, easy setup and scaling, rich statistics of movement trajectories, and compatibility with different video recording systems. Also, it accepts multiple video formats such as common MP4 and AVI formats. EasyFlyTracker provides a cross-platform and user-friendly interface combining command line and graphic configurations, which allows users to intuitively understand the process of tracking and downstream analyses and automatically generates multiple files, especially plots. Users can install EasyFlyTracker, go through tutorials, and give feedback on http://easyflytracker.cibr.ac.cn . Moreover, we tested EasyFlyTracker in a study of Drosophila melanogaster on the hyperactivity-like behavior effects of two psychiatric drugs, methylphenidate and atomoxetine, which are two commonly used drugs treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in human. This software has the potential to accelerate basic research on drug effect studies with fruit flies.
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Edited by: Bart R. H. Geurten, University of Göttingen, Germany
Reviewed by: Benjamin Hans Paffhausen, Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, France; Ilyas Kuhlemann, University of Göettingen, Germany
These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship
This article was submitted to Individual and Social Behaviors, a section of the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
ISSN:1662-5153
1662-5153
DOI:10.3389/fnbeh.2021.809665