Engineering Creativity for Neuroscience

Museum of Equipments

The currently manufactured constructions of Supertech Instruments can be seen on the Products page. But there were many more equipments developed and manufactured during the long history (since the establishment in 1991) of Supertech Instruments. Most of them are out of date and they have been simply removed from this website as their newer versions have been introduced. But there were a few really interesting, delicate or special equipments developed by Supertech Instruments, which are already not manufactured. The list below is a short memorial of the discontinued, but most valuable development projects and products of our Factory.

There is another purpose, why we publish the most interesting former constructions of Supertech Instruments. Our efforts are mainly focused on design and development activity. We manufacture many products, but we are always working on new development tasks. This collection shows those topics, in which we have notable former experience and knowledge. Upon request any of them or parts of them can be restarted, renewed, modified or further developed in the future. Design of Special Equipments page gives you some more information about the possibility of common development of measuring equipments for your unique purpose.

Technical data:

Transcranial Electrical Stimulator

Transcranial Electrical Stimulator was developed for human transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The electrical charge and current densities applied by the equipment were far below the threshold for releasing a stimulus and had a modular effect on existing neuronal elements. Depending on the duration, output current, current density and frequency, the stimulation was effective on inhibiting or activating the cortical activity.

Technical Data

Output current ranges:

    0 - 100 nA

    0 - 1 uA

    0 - 10 uA

    0 - 100 uA

Compliance voltage: 500 V

Fully isolated, floating power supply for the output circuitry

There was a microcontroller-based timer and sequence controller with 2x16 character LCD on the front plate. This controller provided precise timing of the output current.

The programmable active output period was in the range of 10 - 600 sec, with 10 sec of resolution

There was a nonvolatile memory in the controller to store the setup parameters

Digital real-time current and voltage monitors were located on the front plate

Juxtacell BioAmp

Medical Soft Laser

This equipment has been developed for human applications in dentistry, dermatology, pediatrics, urology and gynecology. Its internal construction and its power supply complied with the EN 60601-1-2:2002 human medical patient safety standard.

Medical Soft Laser SL-4a was a universal soft laser equipment. It could drive any kind of laser diode with any wavelength, up to 1W of optical power (1W is the upper power limit of the soft lasers). This feature provided the opportunity to connect any kind of special headpiece to the equipment. The built-in software provided various lighting patterns for the different application fields.

By default we enclosed a headpiece of 13 mW power and 635 nm wavelength.

    Click on the picture to get it in full size

Warm Air Jet Heater System for Incubator, Objective or Sample

The base of this unique heating method was producing high volume of heated air inside the incubator or around the objective or the sample. The flow rate of the air mass and the temperature of the outgoing air flow was accurately controlled. The controller equipments were universal and there were task-specific mechanical and/or thermal interfaces and nosepieces for every heated object.

            Click on the picture to get it in full size

In the pictures you can see the precise heating of an objective without touching the objective mechanically. This was the main goal of the Warm Air Jet Heater method, to protect the expensive and sensitive objective. These pictures show a prototype of the nosepiece.

Warm Air Jet Heater System for Objective system was a set of the following equipments:

    • Jet Air Flow Heater Controller with built-in temperature meter

    • Physiological - Biological Temperature Controller TMP-5b

    • Nosepiece for the objective, with built-in digital DS1820 temperature sensor

MultiAmp V.5 Multichannel Biological Amplifier System

In the past there were three different amplifier systems (BioAmp, MultiAmp and LinearAmp) in our product choice, because the three product lines were optimized for different application fields. BioAmp DC is an up-to-date, highlighted product group of Supertech Instruments for many years, even until now. MultiAmp and LinearAmp families have been retired. This paragraph describes the MultiAmp amplifier family.

MultiAmp was a modular, expandable, multichannel biological amplifier system. We manufactured it for 15 years. It was a great success. It survived five versions under continuous development.

MultiAmp amplifier family was especially powerful in multichannel applications, since such a level of reliability and flexibility was unthinkable in other analogue amplifiers. The top of all that, our MultiAmp amplifier system offered a very reasonable price level in comparison to the number of the amplifier channels. The most important aim during its development was to remove all that features (and the appropriate circuits) which were substituted in the biological data acquisition software packages. This way the dimensions of the circuits could be decreased and the number of channels could be increased efficiently.

    An example: the smallest (8-channel) MultiAmp system

MultiAmp's Main Fields of Applications

    • EEG Brain Mapping

    • Multichannel recording from brain slices

    • Chronic multichannel recording 

The Modular Structure of the MultiAmp System

The number of the amplifier channels could be configured in multiples of 8. There were two different amplifier units in our choice. One of the amplifier units was an 8-channel equipment and the other amplifier unit was a 16-channel equipment, where the 16 channels were divided into two 8-channel parts and they could be programmed independently. The Power Supply unit was a separate equipment. From one Power Supply unit a maximum number of 64 amplifier channels could be powered. Certainly, more than 64 amplifier channels could also be installed in one recording system, but for higher (more than 64) channel numbers, more than one Power Supply unit should have been installed. The following list shows the necessary elements to build a given number of the amplifier channels:

    8-channel system: one Power Supply unit and one 8-channel MultiAmp amplifier unit

    16-channel system: one Power Supply unit and one 16-channel MultiAmp amplifier unit

    32-channel system: one Power Supply unit and two 16-channel MultiAmp amplifier units

    64-channel system: one Power Supply unit and four 16-channel MultiAmp amplifier units

In the pictures you can see the building bricks of the MultiAmp system: Power Supply, 8-channel amplifier unit and 16-channel amplifier unit.

            Click on the picture to get it in full size

MultiAmp was a programmable amplifier, but it had no sampling circuits in the signal path at all. In other words, it was controlled by a built-in microcontroller or a remote computer, but it had got only high-performance, low noise, low distortion analogue amplifier circuits. This feature was indispensable when the researcher used averaging technique to process the output signals of the amplifier. The internal microcontroller and the optional digital port (which offered remote control capability from a PC) were optically isolated from the amplifier stages. This way we could connect all the advantages of the high accuracy analogue amplifier circuits and easy usage of digital control.

Technical Data

In the MultiAmp system the High Pass Filter had got 4 possible positions, and the Gain had got 8 possible positions. The Low Pass Filter was fixed to 8 kHz in the analog circuitry by default. Certainly MultiAmp was available with other Low Pass filter setting upon request, as well. The actual High Pass Filter and Gain values, realized during the manufacturing process were orderable with the default parameters, but they could be requested with special values, to meet any special requirements, as well. The default values of the Filter and Gain sections were the following.

Headstages of MultiAmp

    Click on the picture to get it in full size

We offered 8-channel monopolar (single-ended) and 8-channel differential headstages for MultiAmp in our standard product choice. There were some applications, where the most important aspect was the size of the headstage (e.g. freely moving mice and neonatal rats). For such applications we have developed 8-channel and 16-channel interfaces to connect specialized 3-rd party headstages to the MultiAmp system.

LinearAmp V.4 Signal Conditioner Amplifier

In the past there were three different amplifier systems (BioAmp, MultiAmp and LinearAmp) in our product choice, because the three product lines were optimized for different application fields. BioAmp DC is an up-to-date, highlighted product group of Supertech Instruments for many years, even until now. MultiAmp and LinearAmp families have been retired. This paragraph describes the LinearAmp amplifier family.

LinearAmp amplifier was optimized for high-precision signal conditioning and recording tasks in electrophysiology. It survived four versions under continuous development.

    Click on the picture to get it in full size

Technical Data

The most sophisticated feature of LinearAmp was its Low Pass Filter. The Low Pass filter circuit was an 8-pole, Bessel-type filter with linear phase response. This special, high quality Low Pass Filter was necessary to realize the anti-aliasing function, which is indispensable before the analogue to digital conversion.

In LinearAmp the High Pass Filter, the Low Pass Filter and the Gain had got 8 possible positions. The default values for the Filter and Gain sections are listed below.

In every amplifier channel there was a dedicated DC offset correction circuit, even in a multi-channel system. The voltage range of the offset correction was +/- 200 mV, with 0.1 mV of resolution. There were two different options for the offset correction circuit. One of them was the analogue version with a 10-turn helical potentiometer and a digital voltmeter on the front of the equipment. That is what you can see in the picture above. The other version was the digital realization of the same task as a separated microcontroller, dealing with the numerical control of the offset voltage. This digital offset correction method is currently used in BioAmp DC amplifier system. You can read its detailed description in the

The Notch Filter (hum noise filter) of the LinearAmp was tuned to 50 Hz (or optionally to 60 Hz). The Notch Filter could be switched on and off in the software running on the front plate microcontrollers. The rejection ratio of the Notch Filter on its central frequency was 40 dB.

Table-top Incubator

This equipment was developed to compete with the little table-top incubators. The internal temperature of the incubator was regulated by a Physiological - Biological Temperature Controller with the accuracy of 0.5 Centigrade. The internal atmosphere was controlled by a Carbogene Gas Conditioner Unit. We have completed the prototype development process perfectly with promising results. The prototypes became ready, but unfortunately the manufacturing process has never been started.

            Click on the picture to get it in full size

Original, Fine Adjustable Version of the Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor

The Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor has been developed to fit mice on any rat sized stereotaxic instruments. According to this approach, this was not a complete stereotaxic device, but a precise fixing adaptor especially for small mice.

Technical Innovations

The worldwide patent procedure to protect the Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor has been started in 2007.

The vertical positions of the ear bars and tooth holder could be adjusted individually with high accuracy as 0.05 mm. The maximum elevation height was 20 mm to make a firm and easy holding of the skull by fingers during insertation of the mouse into the stereotaxic holder.

The cone of ear bars fittted to the meatus hole. The shape of the ear bar was designed so that it provided a large surface contact to the bone of the skull around the outer ear hole. Thus the cone tip served only for accurate positioning of the ear bar but did not hold the weight of the head. It allowed accurate positioning of the ear bars and firm contact without damaging the skull.

The tooth holder had a hole drilled into the tooth holder bar. The end of the hole was close to the nose and it served the application of Halothane or other inhalation narcotics on mouse to reduce the risk of anaesthesia.

Tooth holders were designed so that a 2 mm lateral movement of the teeth prevented torsion or damage of the scull during centring the head.

The stereotaxic adaptor had a body support block with a slit at the front for nose down surgery. The block could be replaced by a body temperature controller heating pad. After fixation of the head the supporting block could be inserted under the body to keep the animal in a comfortable position.

The Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor was attached to the rat stereotaxic frame so that electrode positioner stands could be attached to both sides of the frame allowing use of two positioners simultaneously.

                    Click on the picture to get it in full size

You can see the most up to date, currently manufactured version of the Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor on the respective product description page.

Intra-Cranial Pressure Monitor with Alarm Function (ICP Monitor)

The application field of the ICP Monitor was intensive care in neurosurgery. ICP Monitor was a portable, battery-powered equipment. It had been built in a small plastic case, so it could be used anywhere, even during the transportation of the human patient. This was the main goal of its development process. The standard intensive care monitors are usually not portable equipments. Especially in the neurosurgery there is a very important requirement. The bleeding in the skull must be detected as early as possible, because the life of the patient depends on minutes in such an emergency situation. ICP Monitor was optimized especially for this purpose. It generated an alarm signal in very early phase of the increasing of the intra-cranial pressure. This equipment was manufactured only in a pilot series. It had not generated any profit for Supertech Instruments, but undoubtedly this was our most beneficial product, because it had saved several human lives!

    Click on the picture to get it in full size

Spine (Back Bone) Holder for Rat

In the pictures below you can see our retired, high precision spine (back bone) holder model. The conical nose holder and the ear bars were optional accessories, they could be removed if the experimental situation did not require them. The screws holding the base plate, the back bone tweezers and the basement of the micromanipulator could be assembled on any side of the equipment.

            Click on the picture to get it in full size

IonFlow Pro Human Iontophoretic Equipment V.3

Ionophoresis gave a brand new way to pass medicines and other effective substances to the human body. The iontophoretic technique offered a large scope in medical practice, because special pastilles, pills and solutions are manufactured for this purpose. From these special materials the effective substances can be passed with ionophoresis instead of hypodermic needle. The result is: there is NO PAIN of injection any more. IonFlow Pro was designed specifically for cosmetic and all general human medical applications.

Four important fields of applications of IonFlow Pro equipments are listed below as examples:

    • Painless cures in cosmetics

    • Passing of anodynes into joints (sportsmen for instance)

    • Painless cure of Lymph Oedema

    • Reduction of thickness of the fat layer under the skin

Technical Data

Output current: 0 - 8 mA, or 0 - 16 mA (in 10 µA steps)

Supply source: 4 kV isolated mains power supply

Compliance voltage: 75 V

Automatic built-in diagnostic and security protection algorithms

   Click on the picture to get it in full size

IonFlow Modular Iontophoretic Equipment for Multi-barrel Electrodes V.2

IonFlow Modular equipments were multi-channel iontophoretic equipments designed specifically for researchers using multi-barrel microelectrodes. The number of the iontophoretic channels could be optimized for the actual experiment. The system could be configured up to 8 channels (plus the compensating channel). Every applicator channel were located in a separated equipment box. The boxes could be put on each other. This way the system could be mounted as a "tower". There was a special cable, which connected the elements of the "tower" to form one synchronized equipment system. This way it was not necessary to buy more number of channels than it was really necessary (exactly as the number of barrels of the electrode). If the number of the barrels used in the experiment was increased, the system could be expanded very easily. The only task was to put one more "level" on the top of the "tower" and to connect it to the system. The power supply of the IonFlow Modular was a highly sophisticated floating power supply, because this system was always used in microelectrode environments, where the protection against the hum noise was essential. Furthermore, the distance between the recording electrode and the iontophoretic electrodes were extremely small on the multi-barrel electrodes. The compensating channel had got a special function. Its task was to produce a current with opposite polarity, but the same amount as the algebraic sum of the iontophoretic applicator currents of the channels. This compensation of currents to zero avoided the excitation effect for the cells. In every multi-channel system only one compensating channel was necessary to be installed. The compliance voltage was +/- 40 V in this equipment. The compensating channel worked automatically according to the commands received from the iontophoretic channels.

   Click on the picture to get it in full size

AC Shocker

    Click on the picture to get it in full size

AC Shocker SAS-2b was a simplified, handy lab animal shocker. Its internal circuitry was based on a constant current generator operating on the mains frequency. The current generator was simplified, but the safety level of this equipment was as good as of the DC Shocker. AC Shocker SAS-2b had got three security isolation barriers. Its output was totally isolated (floating output) for the sake of the safety for the operator and the subject. Furthermore it had isolation from other electronic devices such as physiological stimulators that may be in use concurrently. Isolation was performed by using an isolated power supply transformer along with 4 kV optical isolation of the inputs from the control equipment.

Specifications / Technical Data

AC current generator at the output

The output waveform is bipolar sine wave

Current range at the output: 0.05 to 2 mA

Output load range: 0 (shortcut) to open circuit (any load is allowed)

Compliance (open circuit) voltage: 180 V AC RMS

Working (shocking) frequency: 50 Hz or 60 Hz (equals to the mains frequency)

Optogenetics - LED Driver Units

They are optimized for seriously shielded environments in microelectrode laboratories. Their output current is as smooth as the current of a lead battery. This design fulfils all the special requirements of any sophisticated electrophysiology applications, even in close position to high impedance recording electrodes. LED drivers manufactured by Supertech Instruments are optimized for optogenetic stimulation, but they also could be used for other light stimulating applications (for instance retinography). They can drive any kind of LED directly, with calibrated current, independently of the LED model. They can even drive the extremely high power and/or huge forward voltage LED types. The internal construction of our LED drivers is based on high precision constant current generators and high speed gating circuits for extremely fast switching of the LED's current.

    Click on the picture to get it in full size

In the digitally controlled LED Driver models (LE-5x and XLE-2x) we introduced two very special features in the design. They are the following:

    - Over-current Protection Circuit, what never allows to override the full scale current, even not in transient or broken output wiring conditions!

        It is an extremely important feature, because the brightest, highest power LEDs are driven by such level of currents, what are very close

       to their absolute maximum ratings. These extreme power LEDs need to be carefully protected, because they are terribly expensive.

    - Active current sink circuit to eliminate the parasitic charge holding effect of LEDs.

The extreme power LED Drivers are desktop or rack-mounted equipments. The mechanical construction style of the LED Driver depends on the preference of the user. Either style is available.

    Model LE-5x

    Model XLE-2x in desktop enclosure              Model XLE-2x in rack-mounted enclosure

    Model XLE-3x in rack-mounted enclosure

Specifications / Technical Data

Common features

    Over-current (in other words Overdrive) Protection Circuit: the full scale current is never overridden!

    Worst-case error of the output current generators: < 5 %

    Compliance voltage of the current generators: 12 V

LE-5x

    Selectable ranges of the output current:

        5 - 55 mA in 11 steps (each step is 5 mA)

        10 - 110 mA in 11 steps (each step is 10 mA)

    Active current sink circuit at the output

    Control input: TTL compatible, 0.2 unit-load

    Active level at the control input: TTL High

    External Plug-in DC power supply

XLE-2x

    Selectable ranges of the output current:

        20 - 200 mA in 10 steps (each step is 20 mA)

        40 - 400 mA in 10 steps (each step is 40 mA)

        80 - 800 mA in 10 steps (each step is 80 mA)

        160 - 1600 mA in 10 steps (each step is 160 mA)

    Active current sink circuit at the output

    Control input: TTL compatible, 0.2 unit-load

    Active level at the control input: TTL High

    Internal mains power supply

    Mains voltage: 100 - 120V or 220 - 230V (chosen internally, fixed in the factory)

    Power consumption: 120 VA

XLE-3x

    Selectable ranges of the output current:

        0 - 200 mA

        0 - 400 mA

        0 - 800 mA

        0 - 1600 mA

    Control input voltage range: 0 - 5.0 V

    Input impedance: 50 kOhms

    Internal mains power supply

    Mains voltage: 100 - 120V or 220 - 230V (chosen internally, fixed in the factory)

    Power consumption: 120 VA

Stage Incubator SI-4

Compatible with any microscope and/or any microscope stage! Even, it can be used on any inverted microscope! The base idea of this universal compatibility is simple. The shape of the bottom part of the Stage Incubator is equivalent to the standard microtiter plate (its other names are microplate, well plate, microwell plate, multiwell). This feature gives the opportunity to use it on any manual or motorized microscope stage. Only a fixing adaptor for the standard microtiter plates should be ordered from the manufacturer of your microscope stage. For reference, you can see the mechanical dimensions of the standard microtiter plate in this picture.

On the Stage Incubator there is an inlet and an outlet for the carbogene gas to provide the optimal atmosphere for the cell culture. The internal geometry assures the balanced internal circulation of the carbogene gas. The bottom part of the Stage Incubator is made of plexiglas, which is a good thermal insulator material. This way the heated incubator does not heat up the stage underneath. This version of Stage Incubator accepts 35 mm Petri-dish. To provide an efficient thermal contact between the aluminum body and the Petri-dish, we strongly suggest to use silicone grease on the outer side wall and the bottom circular edge of the Petri-dish.

In the following pictures you can see the Stage Incubator from different viewpoints, with the top cover put on:

            ... without the Petri-dish. Click on the picture to get it in full size

    ... with the Petri-dish inside              ... with the Petri-dish inside, without the top cover

Specifications / Technical Data

Target holder: Petri-dish, 35 mm in diameter, with cover slip bottom

Outer dimensions of the plexiglas base plate: 127.8 x 85.5 mm

Mass: 430 gramm

The controlled temperature range: room temperature to 50 Centigrade, in 1 Centigrade steps

The resolution of the measurement: 0.1 Centigrade

Hysteresis: 0.2 - 0.3 Centigrade. The actual hysteresis depends on the thermal capacity and the volume of the solution in the Petri-dish.

CO₂ Controller CO2-2x

This unit can be used either with the Stage Incubator manufactured by Supertech Instruments or to supply carbogene gas into any other 3rd party incubator.

        Click on the picture to get it in full size        Control panel of V.2

Specifications / Technical Data

Input pressure range: 0.1 MPa - 1 MPa (1 to 10 Bar)

Output pressure: 10 kPa (100 mBar)

The controlled CO₂ concentration range: 0 % - 20 % (Percents of Volume)

The resolution of the measurement: 0.01 %

Hysteresis (approximately): 0.3 - 0.5 %. The hysteresis depends on the actual air-mixture consumption at the output.

Display: 4 characters green LED display

Buffer volume of the internal mixer tank: 5 dm³

Output flow rate: 0 to 1.5 liter/min

Programming: three pushbuttons on the front

Automatic internal diagnostic algorithm in the firmware

Flash program memory

Non-volatile EEPROM memory to store the parameters used last time

Dimensions of the instrument: 460 x 420 x 180 mm

Weight: 15 kg

Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor V.5

Has been developed to fit mice on any rat sized stereotaxic instrument. According to this approach, this is not a complete stereotaxic device, but a precise fixing adaptor especially for small mice. We found, that there are different, very good stereotaxic instruments in every lab, but they are too rude to use them for mice. Our Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor SFAC-5 breaks this limitation.

We have tested Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor on David Kopf 900 and Stoelting rat stereotaxic instruments. According to its small size and universal, adjustable fixing elements, it can be used on nearly every other stereotaxic instruments, too. Its stability is superb. We have tested it on a 2-photon microscope, as well. The target neurons could be examined approximately in ten minutes without any disturbing movement.

The Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor is designed to use for stereotaxic surgery, electrode implantation and stereotaxic injection of compounds using all power of the best rat stereotaxic instruments. The principle of the mouse head holder resembles the Cunningham mouse adaptor but it has major improvements. It can be used either in combination with rat stereotaxic frame, or as a stand alone head restraining device. It allows to use two electrode positioners and application of Halothane anaesthesia in open inhalation systems. Its ear bars are designed for accurate holding of the scull and prevent damage or compression of the soft bone of the mouse and small rat skull. Because of applying the same head restraining spots of the scull as it is in use in the case of rats, our Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor allows exceptional high accuracy of stereotaxic positioning in mouse, particularly if it is applied together with digital electrode positioning.

The cone of ear bars fits to the meatus hole. The shape of the ear bar is designed so that it provide a large surface contact to the bone of the skull around the outer ear hole. Thus the cone tip serves only for accurate positioning of the ear bar but does not hold the weight of the head. It allows accurate positioning of the ear bars and firm contact without damaging the skull.

The tooth holder has a hole drilled into the tooth holder bar. The end of the hole is close to the nose and it serves the application of Halothane or other inhalation narcotics on mouse to reduce the risk of anaesthesia.

Tooth holders are designed so that a 2 mm lateral movement of the teeth prevents torsion or damage of the scull during centering the head.

The tip of ear bars can be replaced to custom made bar tips. Any kind of bar tips can be made by the manufacturer or by the user. The internal geometry of the ears of mice depend on their age and race very much. This is the reason, why ear bars have got strong, durable stainless steel handles and changeable tips made of soft aluminum. These aluminum cones can be modified by the user with a rasp. If you find the appropriate geometry of the cones fitting in the ears of your mice perfectly, please send us a drawing of the desired, exact geometry of cones. We will manufacture new ear bar tips for you according to your specification free of charge. Optionally, cogged ear bars can also be ordered for softer but accurate fastening of the head.

The Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor has got height adjustable legs. They are used to adjust the height of the equipment to fit to the height of the stereotaxic frame. Furthermore they provide a precise way to adjust the horizontality.

We have developed a unique fixing method to fasten the Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor on an optical table or on any other surface. The essence of the fixing method is, that only four pieces of M6 holes are needed anywhere (!) around the Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor to fix it. It is not necessary to drill extra fixing holes, any given holes can be used to fix the instrument on the basement. This innovative idea provides very rigid and universal way to fasten the equipment. With the flexible scissor styled elements the fixing holes can be found accurately, then the screws should be tightened. The scissor styled fixing elements are optional accessories. If you do not need to fasten the instrument, you should not order them.

Dimensions

Outer measures of the heated base plate (including the fixing places of the two ear bar assemblies): 155 x 85 mm

Useable surface of the heated base plate (including the fixing place of the nose bar assembly): 155 x 55 mm

Space requirement of the complete equipment (including the nose bar and ear bar assemblies): 190 (L) x 130 (W) X 100 (H) mm

Height of the top surface of the heated base plate from the surface the equipment is fixed on: 55 mm

Reference

The Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor provides such a level of mechanical stability, that intracellular recording of a thalamocortical neuron in an anaesthetized mouse with a sharp glass pipette can be carried out easily even in an hour time period.

To demonstrate the mechanical stability of the Mouse and Neonatal Rat Stereotaxic Frame Adaptor you can download a real Demo Recording from the 35th minute of a real experiment. Intracellular recording of the activity of a thalamocortical neuron was carried out.

Sincere thanks to the authors:

    Dr. Magor Lorincz

    Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Crunelli

    Prof. Dr. Stuart W. Hughes

    at School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK

Small Vessel Myograph

Recording of force generated by contractile tissues, like smooth, skeletal or cardiac muscles upon mechanical, chemical or electrical stimulation. Myographs are most commonly used for the detection of vascular reactivity in physiological, pharmacological and preclinical research. Our Small Vessel Myograph system (SVM) has been designed to study vessels in a wide diameter range (from 600 μm to 1 cm).

                Click on the picture to get it in full size

Small Vessel Myograph recording system consists of the following equipments:

    • Mechanical assembly, containing the heated organ bath.

    • Small Vessel Myograph SVM-1b measuring equipment. This unit provides calibrated analog voltage output to record the

        contractions of the examined tissue on any kind of PC-based data acquisition system. Furthermore there is a built-in

        high resolution and fast analog to digital converter, which is accessible directly via standard USB 2.0 port of a computer.

    • Force Sensor Headstage VMY-1c.

    • Physiological - Biological Temperature Controller TMP-5b. This equipment regulates the temperature of the organ bath.

        This is the universal biological temperature controller of Supertech Instruments, which is involved in the Small Vessel

        Myograph measuring system, as well. On the Animal Temperature Control page you can read the very detailed

        description of the TMP-5b temperature controller.

    • Recording program: Windows-based signal recording and data logger program. It is downloadable as a freeware.

Specifications / Technical Data

Full scale force of the vessel sensor: 1000 mN

Mechanical bandwidth of the force sensor: 0 to 200 Hz (-3 dB)

Chamber material: unique stainless steel alloy, fully compatible with the living tissues

Chamber volume: 3.5 ml

Mounting method: pins

Vessel internal diameter: > 600 μm

Vessel adjustment (normalization): manually by a micrometer

Micrometer resolution: 0.01 mm

Temperature range: ambient to 60 Centigrade

Signal output choice:

    • Analog voltage output: for high resolution measurements on any 3rd-party DAQ device

    • Built-in analog to digital converter and data logger (with its program package)

    • DVM on the front plate (3 reading / sec): for normalization of the vessel

Specification of the analog voltage output:

    • Full-scale range of the electronic circuit for the vessel sensor: 2000 mN

    • Analogue output range: +/- 5 V

    • Resolution: 0.02 mN

    • Worst-case error of the full scale value: < 2 %

    • Linearity error maximum: < 2 %

    • Scale factor choice:

        10 V / N

        1 V / N

        0.1 V / N

    • Bandwidth of the analog circuitry: 500 Hz by default (option: 20 Hz to 20 kHz can be set by the factory according to the order)

    • Analog output impedance: 300 Ohm

Specification of the built-in analog to digital converter:

    • Resolution and maximum sampling rate:

        12-bit, 1 MS/s (default)

        20-bit, 16 S/s (option)

        24-bit, 16 S/s (option)

    • Data communication: USB 2.0

Every part of the mechanical assembly is made of stainless steel. The basement of the organ bath is a strong fixing plate standing on three feet. In the middle of the basement there is a heated tissue chamber. The material of the heated chamber is a very special kind of steel alloy, which is fully compatible with the living tissues. The temperature of the heated chamber (organ bath) is regulated with the accuracy of better than 0.5 Centigrade.

Small pieces of vessels can be fixed as rings on two tungsten wires. The internal diameter range of the measurable vessels is 1 to 10 mm. One of the fixing wires is attached to the force sensor. The force sensor is part of the Force Sensor Headstage VMY-1c. The other, opposite holding wire is fixed on the removable upper part on easily adjustable way. The Force Sensor Headstage VMY-1c is fine positioned by a micrometer, providing accurate control of vessel circumference.

        Working state of the chamber 

The whole measuring unit, including the force sensor, the Force Sensor Headstage VMY-1c and the opposite holding wire can be removed from the basement in one piece completely. This feature provides a comfortable and precise way to fix the examined tissue on the wires. The removable design of the measuring unit helps positioning of the vessel or tissue on the fixing wires accurately.

    Measuring unit has been dismantled to fix the vessel comfortably

There are flexibly adjustable tubes to transport carbogene gas and saline solution into the tissue (organ) bath to maintain the optimal physiological conditions for the tissue. The solution and gas tubes are easily detachable and repositionable on the basement.

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