Treadmills

Enhance your metabolic and energy research using a rodent Metabolic Treadmill, configured for seamless integration with the Oxymax-CLAMS system to perform detailed studies on exercise effects on energy expenditure.

VO2 Max & Crossover Point Testing: Assess aerobic capacity with the Metabolic Treadmill, integrated with Oxymax, for precise indirect calorimetry.
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Metabolic testing requires the dedicated Metabolic Treadmill because it features:

• ‍Airtight Enclosures: Each exercise lane is contained within an isolated, air-tight compartment necessary for accurate open-circuit calorimetry.
• ‍Real-Time Analysis: It integrates directly with the Oxymax Indirect Calorimetry system to simultaneously measure oxygen consumption (VO2) and carbon dioxide production (VCO2) during active exercise.
• Modular Construction: Multiple units can be connected, allowing researchers to merge lanes to operate from a single motor, making high-throughput studies more efficient.

Essential Integrated Components

• ‍CI-Link Software: Automates data capture and analysis for VO2, VCO2, Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER), and energy expenditure, with measurements collected as frequently as every five seconds for detailed monitoring.
• ‍Mass Flow Control: Maintains a consistent flow of air at STP (Standard Temperature and Pressure) to ensure accurate respiratory measurements regardless of environmental conditions.

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Core Temperature & Heart Rate

The Telemetric Metabolic Treadmill features an integrated antenna that maintains strong, interference-free reception of heart rate and core temperature signals from telemetry implants, even as animals move, providing reliable physiological data during exercise.

Specialized lanes read G2 telemetry transmitters to supplement VO2 and crossover point data, showing core body temperature every five seconds.

Gain actionable insights into the brain’s response to exercise and strengthen your research outcomes with Columbus Instruments treadmills, designed for neuroplasticity and disease progression studies. Depend on advanced engineering trusted by leading researchers to achieve rigorous, reproducible neurological and behavioral data.

• Neurodegenerative Diseases: Researching how forced exercise can slow the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s Disease.
• ‍Fatigue & Depression: Using the treadmill fatigue test to measure lethargy or giving up behaviors, which are markers for depression or chronic fatigue syndrome.
• ‍Spinal Cord & Brain Injury: Evaluating motor recovery and coordination after traumatic injuries.

For neurological and behavioral studies, select Columbus Instruments' specialized treadmill systems for precise, reliable data on Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and spinal injuries.

Best Treadmill Models for Neuroscience Research

• ‍Exer 3/6 Treadmill: Ideal for neurological and behavioral studies, this versatile system accommodates three rats or six mice, enabling high-throughput comparisons.
• ‍Exer-Gait: This model is designed for thorough gait and motor coordination analysis. Its clear running belt and integrated lighting system facilitate high-speed video recording, enabling precise tracking and evaluation of animal movement patterns.
• ‍Modular Treadmill: An adaptation of our popular Metabolic treadmill that features a top-mounted slot for tethered measurements such as EPhys, Opto/chemogenetics, microdialysis, or other applications that need a tether during exercise.

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Columbus Instruments treadmills are frequently cited in research for:

• Neurodegenerative Disease Models: Tracking motor decline in ALS, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.
  If your research focuses on muscle and cardiovascular physiology, maximize your results with a customized Columbus Instruments treadmill system. Select streamlined high-throughput training or rich metabolic data, with dedicated systems tailored to your goals.
• ‍Neuroplasticity: Studying how exercise regimens can reverse dendritic spine loss or promote neural recovery.‍
• Disability Measurement: Assessing progressive neurological disability in models of Multiple Sclerosis.

• Muscle & Cardiovascular Physiology: Advanced research into physiological function under stress using the lab animal treadmill, a consistent tool for generating physiological insights.
• Muscular Dystrophy: Testing the endurance and muscle fiber integrity of models with muscle-wasting diseases.
• Cardiovascular Disease: Studying the effects of exercise on atherosclerosis, hypertension, and heart failure recovery.
• Sarcopenia (Aging): Examining how high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can mitigate muscle loss in aged mouse models.

If your research focuses on muscle and cardiovascular physiology, maximize your results with a customized Columbus Instruments treadmill system. Select streamlined high-throughput training or rich metabolic data, with dedicated systems tailored to your goals.

The Exer 3/6 Treadmill

‍High-Throughput & General Exercise Research

Exer 3/6 is recognized as a primary choice for studies in muscle physiology. It supports protocols to enhance muscle hypertrophy or assess cardiovascular endurance, with large-cohort support, enabling robust scientific discovery.

• Precise Control: The drive motor provides continuous speed adjustment from 2.5 to 100 m/m in increments as small as 0.1 m/m, enabling fine-tuned protocols for impaired or aged cardiovascular models.
• Versatility: It features removable lane dividers, allowing researchers to switch between three rat treadmill lanes or six mouse treadmill lanes on a single unit. The treadmill can be manually adjusted from 0° to +25° incline and up to -25° decline (with the downhill adapter), providing a full range of incline and decline settings for studies involving muscle loading, joint stress, or injury models. ‍
• ‍Toolless Removable Belt: Specifically designed for ease of maintenance in lab settings, with a focus on hygiene and modularity.

The Telemetric Metabolic Treadmill

Cardiometabolic Phenotyping

For advanced cardiovascular research, use the Metabolic Treadmill with the Oxymax-CLAMS system, a solution trusted to meet the rigorous demands of leading laboratories.

• VO2 Max Testing: It is used in the Graded Exercise Test (GXT) to assess cardiopulmonary function and aerobic capacity. This system records VO2, VCO2, and RER values every five seconds, providing high-resolution data to assist researchers in analyzing rapid physiological changes during cardiovascular testing.‍
• Heart Rate & Temperature: This treadmill uses a specialized antenna to prevent electrical noise from distorting real-time heart rate and core body temperature tracking, ensuring you receive precise physiological measurements during every test.

Comparison for Physiology Research

GLP-1 Receptor Agonists

For assessing the impact of lean muscle mass loss with Glucagon-like peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1s), Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide (GIPs), or other multi-agonist therapies, the VO2 max test has long served as the standard to measure physical fitness in rodents and humans alike. Discover why GLP-1-driven weight loss tends to also result in patients who are less cardio-metabolically fit than before treatment.

• Multi-Lane Continuous VO2 Monitoring: A high-throughput system that can measure multiple subjects simultaneously. Most multi-subject VO2 analyzers are multiplexed and present large gaps between data points, making identification of true peak VO2 very challenging. Continuous monitoring eliminates those gaps by installing dedicated O2 and CO2 sensors in each lane at an affordable price.
• ‍Long-Time, Low-Maintenance Performance: Legendary for their reliability and longevity, the continuous sampling Oxymax matches the need for low maintenance by offering a Paramagnetic O2 sensor by default; no fuel cells to replace, ever.   

Wired E-Phys Recording

Recording electrophysiology signals in live subjects with wired leads can be challenging. Doing the same in exercising subjects, even more so. Columbus Instruments Modular Treadmills can be customized with a top-mounted slot to accommodate electrical leads for measuring bioelectrical signals with third-party instrumentation.

Epigenetic Research

For epigenetic studies examining how exercise impacts offspring health, select Columbus Instruments systems for precise control and metabolic analysis that support your research objectives.  

Researchers in this field typically prioritize the Exer 3/6 Multi-Lane Treadmill, especially if the primary focus is on standardized exercise protocols rather than real-time gas exchange.

• Standardization Across Trimesters: Maternal studies require precise control of exercise intensity (e.g., 40%, 65%, and 50% of max) across different pregnancy stages. The Exer 3/6 allows researchers to maintain these strict intensity levels across multiple subjects simultaneously, which is vital for large-scale epigenetic studies.
• Low-Stress Motivation: For pregnant subjects, minimizing stress is paramount. The Exer 3/6 supports soft-stimulus options (such as air-puff) as an alternative to electric-shock grids, ensuring that the biological data collected reflect the effects of exercise rather than maternal stress hormones.

Why These Models Are Preferred for Epigenetics

• Translational Value: These systems enable researchers to replicate human pregnancy exercise guidelines in mice, enhancing translational value for clinical applications.
• ‍Long-Term Monitoring: These treadmills are frequently integrated with Oxymax-CLAMS, enabling 24-hour monitoring of both mothers and subsequent offspring to track long-term metabolic homeostasis.
• ‍Drug Discovery: Testing new pharmaceuticals to see if they improve physical performance or if their side effects include exercise intolerance.
• ‍Environmental Studies: Using treadmills inside environmental chambers to study how extreme heat, cold, or hypoxia (low oxygen) affects physical performance.