Endurance Exercise Test
Objective: Assess ability to sustain long-lasting exercise by measuring running capacity and endurance at 70% of VO2max in mice
This is a Endurance Exercise Test protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 3 equipment items. Extracted from a 2013 paper published in Nature Medicine.
Model and subjects
mouse • Rev-erb-α knockout and wild-type littermates • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~50 minutes hands-on
Core workflow
Measure spontaneous locomotor activity • Determine VO2max via progressive treadmill exercise • Perform standard endurance exercise test
Primary readouts
- Spontaneous locomotor activity in free wheel exercise
- Basal oxygen consumption (VO2b) at rest
- Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) at exhaustion
- Percentage of mice stopping running within 50 minutes
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
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Protocol Steps
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Measure spontaneous locomotor activity
Place Rev-erb-α−/− mice and wild-type littermates in free wheel exercise apparatus and measure spontaneous locomotor activity
Note: Baseline assessment of exercise behavior
View evidence from paper
“Rev-erb-α−deficient (Rev-erb-α−/−) mice exhibited markedly reduced spontaneous locomotor activity in a free wheel exercise compared to wild-type littermates”
Determine VO2max via progressive treadmill exercise
Submit Rev-erb-α−/− mice and wild-type littermates to forced, progressive treadmill exercise to measure basal oxygen consumption (VO2b) at rest and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) at exhaustion
Note: VO2b measured at rest; VO2max measured at exhaustion. Results used to establish individual 70% VO2max threshold for endurance test
View evidence from paper
“We next assessed basal (VO2b) and maximal (VO2max) oxygen consumption, reflecting aerobic capacity, by submitting Rev-erb-α−/− mice to a forced, progressive treadmill exercise.”
Perform standard endurance exercise test
Place mice on treadmill and have them run at 70% of their respective VO2max. Monitor running time and distance until mice stop running or reach endpoint
Note: Test assesses ability to sustain long-lasting exercise. Endpoint is when mouse stops running
View evidence from paper
“In a standard endurance exercise test performed at 70% of their respective VO2max, 50% of Rev-erb-α−/− mice, compared to only 20% of the wild-type mice, stopped running within 50 min indicative of their inability to sustain a long-lasting exercise”
Record running time and distance
Document total running time and total distance covered during endurance exercise test for each mouse
Note: Primary outcome measures for endurance capacity
View evidence from paper
“In this setting, Rev-erb-α−/− mice ran for a significantly shorter time and distance than their wild-type littermates”