In accordance with previous literature, sleep is defined as ≥5 min of complete inactivity (Shaw et al., 2000).
#Pysolo software for mac how to
An extension that allows video analysis of flies activity is also provided, and instructions are available on the website detailing how to create an inexpensive recording station using common high-definition USB webcams.Īfter information about the single experiment has been entered in the database, the software proceeds to fetch the data and calculate sleep amount. The format accepted by default is the one of the TriKinetics system-based on infrared motion detection of individual flies-but the software can be easily customized to accept different kind of raw data.
In addition to keeping record of the past experiments, the database software is responsible for collecting and elaborating the raw data. All the information regarding single experiments can be stored in a single file and can be easily retrieved by the user through a system of multiple tagging. A second part offers an intuitive and expandable platform for the actual data analysis.ĭata insertion in the database is spry and straight forward. The suite is divided in two parts: a first section provides database-like capabilities for storage of the experimental information and retrieval of the raw data.
#Pysolo software for mac download
The software will run on all the major operating systems that are able to run Python 2.5, including most Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux binary versions for Windows and Mac that do not require installation of Python are also available for download on the website. Graphical output is handled by the matplotlib library for production of publication quality figures in a variety of hardcopy formats. Data are stored and interpreted as multi-dimensional array objects and fast computation is achieved using the NumPy and SciPy scientific libraries. PySolo (named after the Italian word for nap, pisolo) has been written entirely in Python, using the wxPython architecture for the construction of a user-friendly graphic user interface (GUI). With pySolo, we wish to introduce a complete suite for sleep analysis in Drosophila that includes an inexpensive yet powerful video recording solution and a versatile software for analysis of video as well as of traditional (infrared based) data. Unfortunately, the lack of a standard accepted solution does not facilitate sharing and diffusion of novel analysis algorithms moreover, the current hardware and software solutions are relatively expensive and this introduces an obstacle to the expansion of the field. No standard exists for software analysis of the data and most laboratories use custom-made programs based on common office spreadsheet software in combination with commercial scripting or mathematical software, such as Statsoft Statistica or Mathworks Matlab. The video analysis, on the other hand, is still in an experimental phase (Zimmerman et al., 2008b): it offers a virtually unlimited spatial resolution, it is able to identify the smaller movements and it allows for recording of more than one fly in the same chamber.
The first system is considered to be the current standard but it allows only recording of individual flies and with a very limited spatial resolution it is commercially available although relatively expensive. Activity of the fly is normally monitored either through an infrared-based system (recording the number of times a single fly breaks an infrared beam) or through video recording. In Drosophila, sleep is defined as a sustained period of quiescence associated with an increased arousal threshold and it is therefore indirectly measured as lack of activity over time. Since the first descriptions of Drosophila sleep in the year 2000 (Hendricks et al., 2000 Shaw et al., 2000), several genetic screens have already been conducted and several short sleeping mutants have been isolated and at least partially characterized, providing new important insights into the biology of sleep (Cirelli and Bushey, 2008). Flies share all the fundamental features of mammalian sleep: their sleep is homeostatically regulated independent of the circadian clock, is modulated by stimulants and hypnotics, and it is affected by age. Behaviorally defined sleep-like states have been characterized in several animal species-including fish, flies and worms-and genetic analyses in these systems are revealing a remarkable conservation in the underlying mechanisms controlling sleep behavior (Zimmerman et al., 2008a).Īmong these, Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a particularly successful candidate for the investigation of the molecular mechanisms of sleep. Over the past decade, the field of sleep research has met a novel renaissance, upon the introduction of a restricted number of animal organisms that have been exploited as genetic models.
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