Electroantennogram System

Procurement Summary

This requirement is for an Electroantennogram System and a gas chromatography electroantennogram detection system. This system allows for analytical procedures that permit the rapid identification of compounds in complex mixtures that stimulate the olfactory sensilla of an insect. Allowing for research to isolate and identify behaviorally active compounds. Electroantennogram System. • Signal acquisition controller system, Type Intelligent Data Acquisition Controller 4 Channel (IDAC-4) including software. • Air Stimulus Controller Unit, Type Stimulus Controller (CS-55). 2 • Effluent conditioner Assembly, Type EC-03. • Micromanipulator, Type MP-22 including universal probe • Combi Electroantennogram (EAG) Probe, Type PRG-3. • Antenna signal simulator • Electrode etching device All seven items are required for a fully functioning Gas ChromoGraphy- ElectroAntennograpic Detection (GC-EAD) system. All equipment pieces must communicate and operate on the same software system. The desired equipment is extremely unique, in that it is highly specialized and custom-designed to objectively measure the activation of individual neurons within the insect brain. The neuronal activation can be experimentally determined because the equipment is capable of measuring changes in electrical gradients across cellular membranes at an ultrafine scale. There do exist other types of electrophysiological equipment that have similar function and capabilities in general, however these other pieces of equipment are designed to measure electrical gradients on samples or specimens that are not of comparable scales as the insect brain. For example, other relatively comparable equipment options are capable of measuring these electrical gradients in intact frog eggs (which are >10,000 times the size of insect brain cells). As such, while similar in function, this other equipment is not technologically capable of conducting these types of studies on insects because of the physical characteristics (i.e., physical size) of the electrophysiological equipment. Briefly put, the salient characteristics that make this equipment the only option are 1) the highly sophisticated technical capabilities of the equipment, and 2) the micro-scale of the equipment, which allows it to be used to conduct electrophysiological studies on micro-scales, and 3) the fact that it is purpose-built to facilitate the measurement of olfactory-sensory neuron activation in the insect brain. No other equipment in the world has these characteristics, and no other available equipment can be used to perform these functions.

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