ESTraS, an easy and simple tracking system for assessing rodent behavior.

Abstract

Animal behavior analysis software has become an essential tool in the life sciences. However, the currently available tools have some significant shortcomings that limit their use by individuals without programming skills, access to higher informatics resources, or the capability to invest large sums of money. We have developed and validated an easy-to-use and straightforward tracking system named ESTraS to address this issue. This freeware software allows researchers to track and analyze rodent behaviors, offering additional options such as trajectory and angle analysis. Through ESTraS, researchers can utilize unsupervised clustering techniques, such as k-means or hierarchical clustering, to further explore the obtained results. This clustering enables the classification of results based on observed similarities among subjects. The data of this manuscript shows that ESTraS can prove to be extremely valuable, not only by providing essential behavioral analysis tools but also by offering specific data analysis options with just one click.