Using TECA’s Dual Cold/Hot Plate, a health psychology lab in a large university is conducting a study on the relationship between pain sensitivity and inflammation in human subjects.
The human subject places his or her hand on the surface of TECA’s AHP-1200DCP Dual Cold/Hot Plate for a period of time. Researchers are using set points between 52 °C and -4 °C and can utilize the included communications software to program ramp and soak profiles.
TECA’s model AHP-1200DCP consists of two adjacent thermoelectric heat/cool plates (dual zone cold plate).
In this example, the customer has added an optional Plexiglas barrier that allows the rat to easily move between the two surfaces. One plate was set at 30 ºC and the other plate was alternately set also to 30 ºC or to a different temperature. Animals spent time on each plate.
The customer studies whether rats/mice exhibit a significant, temperature-dependent avoidance of plates after injection of analgesic drugs.
Investigating the changes in behavioral responses due to changes in experimental floor temperature and dermal application of heating/cooling compounds in an animal model requires precise temperature control system.
The TECA AHP-1200DCP dual zone cold/hot thermoelectric plate with two independently controllable temperature zones provides precise regulation of the floor temperature and change of settings as deemed. experimentally necessary. The Plexiglass arena allows careful monitoring of animal activity while allowing the animal to roam free across the experimental surface.
Creating Microclimates for Insect Subjects
Using TECA’s Gradient Bar System, a biology department at a U.S. university created a temperature preference device for small insects.
The insects were infected with various pathogens. The researchers wanted to create an environment where the insects chose a temperature benefiting pathogen replication/transmission and not host survival, thus determining whether pathogens alter their hosts’ temperature preferences.
Insulating their petri dishes and setting the entire gradient machine inside a larger incubator, the researchers created a microclimate and had excellent control over temperature fluctuations.
A department of the Canadian government uses two TECA Thermal Gradient Bar (TGB-5030) systems to conduct thermal behavior research on insects.
In the photographs shown here, the customer used two AHP-1200CPV Cold/Hot plates plus one Large Gradient Plate (p/n TGB-5030) and created a gradient area spanning from 4 °C to 33 °C. Two groups of insects were placed side-by-side on the gradient bar, in separate cages. This allowed the researchers to test two groups at the same time.
The gradient plate shown is not TECA’s. It’s from a University. They had been running a hot plate on one end and a liquid cooled LHP-300CP with the plate in the evaluation of temperature preference in insects.
They needed better control and a wider temperature range and they wanted it on their existing plate. Many tests were run with the AHP-301CPV (shown) and the AHP-1200CPV to evaluate temperature uniformity and differential.
More and more researchers are looking into the versatile CPV line of cold plates to improve their tests with the CPV line of products and accessories. Call us. Maybe we can help you too.