Ledged Tapered Beam Test
Objective: A locomotor assessment of hindlimb placement dysfunction measured by foot faults while walking across a tapered balance beam with an under-hanging ledge
This is a Ledged Tapered Beam Test protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 1 equipment items. Extracted from a 2010 paper published in Experimental & Translational Stroke Medicine.
Model and subjects
rat
Study window
~3 day study window | ~5 minutes hands-on
Core workflow
Pre-training Phase • Trial Execution • Rest Between Trials
Primary readouts
- Number of foot faults made with hindlimbs
- Contralateral versus ipsilateral foot fault comparison
- Hindlimb placement dysfunction
- Motor learning ability
Key equipment and reagents
Verified items
0
Direct vendor links
0
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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Pre-training Phase
Animals must be pre-trained until they successfully walk across the beam without turning around and without making any faults
Note: Pre-training is required for this task
View evidence from paper
“For this task, pre-training is required until the animal successfully walks across the beam without turning around and without making any faults”
Trial Execution
Animal walks across the elevated tapered balance beam with under-hanging ledge. Foot faults made with hindlimbs are recorded as deficits in hindlimb function
Note: Conduct 5 trials per session. Allow short breaks between trials to prevent habituation
View evidence from paper
“Foot faults made with hindlimbs are viewed as deficits in hindlimb function”
Rest Between Trials
Allow each animal a short break between trials
Note: Important to prevent habituation to the task
View evidence from paper
“It is also important to allow each animal a short break between trials so the animal does not habituate to the task”
Observation During Increasing Difficulty
Observe and record foot faults as the ledge tapers and the difficulty of the task increases
Note: After stroke, an animal's foot faults will increase on the contralateral side as the ledge tapers
View evidence from paper
“After a stroke, an animal's foot faults will increase on the contralateral side as the ledge tapers and the difficulty of the task increases”