PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Bagley, Jared R. AU - Kashinsky, Wayne M. AU - Jentsch, James D. TI - A system for continuous and automated measurement of mouse home-cage drinking with automated control of liquid access AID - 10.1101/2021.02.10.430693 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2021.02.10.430693 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/11/2021.02.10.430693.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/11/2021.02.10.430693.full AB - Measurement of drinking behavior in laboratory animals is an often utilized method in many areas of scientific research, including the study of ingestive behaviors and addictions. We have designed a system that measures drinking by continuously tracking fluid-filled bottle weights with load cells and calculating change in fluid weight per drinking bout. The load cells serve both as a contact sensor that detects mouse-spout contact, as well as a monitor of fluid weight change per contact bout. The design described here fulfills several key criteria, including automated and continuous recording of drinking in the home-cage, automated control of liquid access, and inexpensive/reproducible fabrication. These features may allow researchers to generate high-resolution, detailed information on drinking behavior in high-throughput experimental designs. Here, we provide an overview of the design and present results from tests to validate the system. C57BL/6J mice were offered water and ethanol concurrently, using this system. Consumption weights were determined by the system and independently by conventional approaches. The results indicated a near-perfect correlation between the two methods, indicating the system returned valid consumption weights. This system functions as a valid drinking monitor that provides temporally precise data with a low cost design.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.