Source Paper
Lack of striatal-enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase affected the serotonin system, behavior, and brain morphology in mice
Moskaliuk V, Komleva P, Khotskin N, Arefieva A, Shevelev O et al.
Front Psychiatry • 2026
Marble Burying Test
Objective: To evaluate stereotypical behavior associated with obsessive ideas and actions as well as anxiety-related behavior
This is a Marble Burying Test protocol using mice as the model organism. The procedure involves 3 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2026 paper published in Front Psychiatry.
Model and subjects
mice • C57BL/6-Ptpn5_KO and C57BL/6 (wild type) • male • 2-month-old • not specified
Study window
~30 minute study window | ~30 minutes hands-on
Core workflow
Setup marble arrangement • Place mouse in test cage • Remove mouse and count buried marbles
Primary readouts
- Number of buried marbles (defined as marbles with sawdust covering over 2/3 of surface)
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.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
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- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
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Setup marble arrangement
Distribute eighteen identical brightly colored glass marbles evenly across a clean cage filled with sawdust layer 4 cm deep
View evidence from paper
“Eighteen identical brightly colored glass marbles ( d = 1 cm) were evenly distributed across the clean cage”
Place mouse in test cage
Place a single mouse alone in the cage with marbles for 30 minutes
View evidence from paper
“A mouse was placed alone in the cage with marbles for 30 min”
Remove mouse and count buried marbles
Remove the mouse after 30 minutes and count the number of buried marbles using the criterion that a marble is considered buried if sawdust covers over 2/3 of its surface
View evidence from paper
“the mouse was removed and the number of buried marbles was counted. A marble was considered buried if the sawdust covered over 2/3 of its surface”