KNOSYS is a small privately owned company specializing in rodent behavior test equipment. The company was formed in 1995 to market simple and affordable small animal olfactometer units and, in 1997, the product line was expanded to gustometers and a variety of test chambers for mice. The company's directors include specialists in animal behavior and electronics. We offer simple and relatively inexpensive solutions for conditioning and sensory discrimination studies with rodents.
We do only what we do best: providing reasonably priced and highly reliable test equipment for rats and mice. We have avoided idiosyncratic systems, mazes and other tests that involve extensive handling of experimental animals and those that we feel produce highly variable outcomes or outcomes difficult to interpret.
KNOSYS behavior systems have been installed at commercial
and non-profit research institutes and universities in a number of countries.
We work closely with individual investigators
to insure that behavior systems selected will meet their needs. KNOSYS
offers on-site installation and training in the use of our equipment and
software routines.
Korea:
Samsung Medical Center (Seoul)
Australia:
Sydney University and University of New South Wales (Sydney); La Trobe University (Bundoora)
England:
Cambridge University; Cerebrus Ltd. (London); University College London
France:
Institut Pasteur (Paris); Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Montpellier); Institut Francois Magendie (INSERM, Bordeaux).
Germany:
University of Tubingen (Tubingen); Max Planck Inst. Medical Research (Heidelberg)
Sweden:
Umea University (Umea)
Switzerland:
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) (Lausanne)
Israel:
Weizmann Inst. Science (Rehovot); Haifa University (Haifa)
Canada:
McGill University (Montreal); Dalhousie University (Halifax)
Japan:
University of Tokyo (Tokyo)
Denmark
Aarhus University (Aarhus)
United States:
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Philadelphia);Monell Chemical Senses Center (Philadelphia); University of California (Irvine and Davis); Duke University (Durham); Regis University (Denver); University of Colorado School of Medicine (Denver); University of Utah (SLC); University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore); US Army (AMCAC, Natick); Columbia University (New York); NIH (Bethesda); Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle): University of Kentucky School of Medicine (Lexington); University of Florida (Gainesville); Boston University (Boston); Yale University (New Haven); Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh); Randolph-Macon College (Ashland), University of Vermont (Burlington), Linguagen Corp (Cranbury, NJ), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Silver Spring)
Some recent papers (2000 – present) in which Knosys Olfactometer instruments have been used or described.
Schellinck HM, Brown RE. 2000 Selective depletion of bacteria alters but does not eliminate odors of individuality in Rattus norvegicus. Physiol. and Behav., 70:261-270.
Slotnick, B. et al. Can rats acquire an olfactory learning set? 2000. J. Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 26:399-415.
Bodyak, N. and Slotnick, B. 2000 Performance of mice in an automated olfactometer: Odor detection, discrimination and odor memory. Chem Senses, 24:637-645
Slotnick, B. et al. 2000 Does intranasal application of zinc sulfate produce anosmia in the rat? Behavioral Neuroscience, 2000, 114:814-829.
Rubin BD and Katz LC. 2001 Spatial coding of enantiomers in the rat olfactory bulb. Nature Neuroscience, 4r:355-356
Slotnick, B. Animal cognition and the rat olfactory system. 2001 Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5: 216-222.
Greiner, R.S. et al.. 2001 Olfactory discrimination deficits in N-3 fatty acid deficient rats. Physiology and Behavior,72:379-85.
Catalan, J. et al. 2002. Cognitive deficits in docosahexaenoic acid deficient rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 116:1022-1031.
Slotnick, B. and Bodyak, N. 2002 Odor discrimination and odor quality perception in rats with disruptions of connections between the olfactory epithelium and the olfactory bulb. J. Neuroscience. 22:4205-4216.
Stapleton, J.R. et al. 2002 Discrimination between the tastes of sucrose and monosodium glutamate in rats. Chem. Senses 27:375-382
Slotnick, B. and Schellinck, H. 2002 Methods in olfactory research with rodents. In: Frontiers and Methods in Chemosenses, (Simon, S.A. and Nicolelis, M., eds). CRC Press,. pp 21-61
Bisulco, S and Slotnick, B. 2003 Olfactory discrimination of short chain fatty acids in rats with large bilateral lesions of the olfactory bulbs.
Chem Senses 28:361-370.
Kelliher, K.R. et al. 2003. Importance of the CNGA4 channel gene for odor discrimination and adaptation in behaving mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 100:4299-42304.
Kirner, A. et al. 2003 Concanavalin A application to the olfactory epithelium reveals different sensory neuron populations for the odour pair D- and L-carvone. Behav Brain Res.,138:201-206.
Slotnick, B. and Bisulco, S. 2003 Detection and discrimination of carvone enantiomers in rats with olfactory bulb lesions. Neuroscience, 121:451-457
Villemur, C., et al. 2003 Effects of odors on pain perception: Deciphering the roles of emotion and attention. Pain 2003, 106:101-108.
McBride, K, et al. 2003 Does intranasal application of zinc sulfate produce anosmia in the mouse? Chemical Senses, 28:659-670
Doty,RL, et al.. 2003 No Influence of Scopolamine Hydrobromide on Odor Detection Performance of Rats. Chemical. Senses 28: 761-765.
Lin, W. et al. Odors detected by mice deficient in cyclic nucleotide-gated channel subunit A2 stimulate the main olfactory system. J Neurosci. 2004 24:3703-3710
Lehmkuhle, M.J. et al. 2003 high-resolution analysis of the spatio-temporal activity patterns in rat olfactory bulb evoked by enantiomer odors. Chem. Senses 28: 499-508,
Kraemer, S and Apfelbach, R. Olfactory sensitivity, learning and cognition in young adult and aged male Wistar rats. Physiol Behav. 2004 81:435-42.
Vedin, V. et al. Zonal ablation of the olfactory sensory neuroepithelium of the mouse: effects on odorant detection Eur J Neurosci. 2004 , 7:1858-64.
Wersinger SR et al. Social motivation is reduced in vasopressin 1b receptor null mice despite normal performance in an olfactory discrimination task. Hormones and Behav. 46:638-645, 2004
Joly M. et al.Odor discrimination assessment with an automated olfactometric method in a prosimian primate, Microcebus murinus. Physiol Behav. 2004 82(2-3):325-329.
Meyer, B.R. . et al. Monosodium glutamate and sweet taste: discrimination between the tastes of sweet stimuli and glutamate in rats. Chem. Senses 2004 29: 721-729
Wersinger, S.R. et al. Social motivation is reduced in vasopressin 1b receptor null mice despite normal performance in an olfactory discrimination task. Horm Behav. 2004 46:638-45.
Abraham, NM et al. Maintaining accuracy at the expense of speed: stimulus similarity defines odor discrimination time in mice. Neuron 44: 744-747, 2004.
Lim, S. et al. Lead Exposure and (n-3) Fatty Acid Deficiency during Rat Neonatal Development Affect Subsequent Spatial Task Performance and Olfactory Discrimination1 J. Nutr. 135:1019-1026, 2005
Joly, M, et al. Age effect on olfactory discrimination in a non-human primate, Microcebus murinus. Neurobiol Aging. 2005 in press
Delay, E.R et al. Glutamate taste: Discrimination between the tastes of glutamate agonists and monosodium glutamate in rats. Chem. Senses 2004 29: 291-299.
Meyer, B.R. . et al. Monosodium glutamate and sweet taste: discrimination between the tastes of sweet stimuli and glutamate in rats. Chem. Senses 2004 29: 721-729
Taylor-Burds, CC et al. Behavioral comparisons of the tastes of L-alanine and monosodium glutamate in rats. Chem Senses. 2004, 29:807-814.
Hayer, BR et al. Monosodium glutamate and sweet taste: discrimination between the tastes of sweet stimuli and glutamate in rats. Chem Senses. 2004 29:721-729.
Salcedo, E. et al. Analysis of Training-Induced Changes in Ethyl Acetate Odor Maps Using a New Computational Tool to Map the Glomerular Layer of the Olfactory Bulb. Chem Senses. 2005, 30:615-629
Shimshek et al. Enhanced odor discrimination and impaired olfactory memory by spatially controlled switch of AMPA receptors. PLoS Biology 2005, e354
Laska, M. et al. Detecting danger—or just another odorant? Olfactory sensitivity for the fox odor component 2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline in four species of mammals . Physiology and Behavior, 2005, 84:211-215
Slotnick, B and Restrepo, D. Olfactometry with Mice. Current Protocols in Neuroscience, Unit 8.20. Wiley InterScience, 2005
Shimshek, DR et al. Enhanced odor discrimination and impaired olfactory memory by spatially controlled switch of AMPA receptors. PLoS Biol, 2005, 3:e354.
Clevenger, AC and Restrepo D. (2006) Likelihood adaptive staircase procedure for measurement of olfactory detection threshold in mice. Chem. Senses 31:9-26.
Delay, E et al. Sucrose and monosodium glutamate taste thresholds and discrimination ability of T1R3 knockout mice. Chemical Senses, 2006 31:351-357
Wesson, DW et al. Enhanced urinary odor discrimination in female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice. Horm Behav. 2006 49:580-6.
Pho, V et al. Type 4 phosphodiesterase inhibition impairs detection of low odor concentrations in mice. Behav Brain Res. 2005;161:245-53.
Dipa, J. et al. Olfactory Sensitivity for Enantiomers and Their Racemic Mixtures--A Comparative Study in CD-1 Mice and Spider Monkeys Chem. Senses 2006 31: 655-664.
Weiler, E et al. Combined Behavioral and c-Fos Studies Elucidate the Vital Role of Sodium for Odor Detection Chem. Senses 2006 31: 641-647.
Laska, M et al. Detecting danger—or just another odorant? Olfactory sensitivity for the fox odor component 2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline in four species of mammals 2005, Physiol & Behav. 84:211-215