Motor Function Assessment
Objective: Evaluation of poststroke motor function in transgenic mice with ablated neuroprogenitor cells to determine whether depleting neuroprogenitor cells affects poststroke functional outcome
This is a Motor Function Assessment protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 2 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2013 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
mouse • nestin-δ-HSV-TK-EGFP transgenic mice and wild-type controls • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~4 week study window
Core workflow
Osmotic pump implantation and drug administration • Experimental stroke induction • Motor function assessment
Primary readouts
- Poststroke motor function
- Spatial learning and memory performance in Barnes maze
- Number of retrogradely labeled neurons in entorhinal cortex
- Synaptic connectivity between dentate gyrus and entorhinal cortex
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.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Osmotic pump implantation and drug administration
Ganciclovir (200 mg/kg/d) or saline was continuously administered via osmotic pumps in mice
Note: Administration occurred before stroke induction to allow baseline and stroke-induced neuroprogenitor cell ablation
View evidence from paper
“Ganciclovir (GCV; 200 mg/kg/d) or saline was continuously administered via osmotic pumps in mice for 4 weeks before the induction of experimental stroke”
Experimental stroke induction
Stroke was induced in mice after 4 weeks of ganciclovir or saline administration
Note: Both baseline and stroke-induced type 1 and type 2 neuroprogenitor cells were conditionally ablated
View evidence from paper
“Both baseline and stroke-induced type 1 and type 2 NPCs were conditionally ablated”
Motor function assessment
Poststroke motor function was evaluated in transgenic mice treated with ganciclovir versus vehicle control and wild-type stroke mice
Note: No significant difference in poststroke motor function was observed between transgenic mice treated with GCV and those treated with vehicle
View evidence from paper
“there was no significant difference in poststroke motor function between transgenic mice treated with GCV and those treated with vehicle”
Spatial learning and memory testing
Barnes maze test was performed to assess spatial learning and memory function
Note: Transgenic stroke mice given GCV displayed impaired spatial learning and memory compared to saline control or wild-type stroke mice given GCV
View evidence from paper
“Transgenic stroke mice given GCV displayed impaired spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze test compared with saline control or wild-type stroke mice given GCV”
Retrograde viral tracing
PRV614 polysynaptic viral marker was injected into the dentate gyrus to assess synaptic connectivity between dentate gyrus and entorhinal cortex
Note: Retrogradely labeled neurons in the entorhinal cortex were counted to assess synaptic connectivity
View evidence from paper
“nestin-δ-HSV-TK-EGFP mice treated with GCV had fewer retrogradely labeled neurons in the entorhinal cortex (EC) when injected with the polysynaptic viral marker PRV614 in the dentate gyrus (DG)”