Source Paper
Unraveling sex differences in age-related hippocampal decline: differential mitochondrial dysfunction, Lonp1-dependent mitochondrial proteostasis and mtROS production in aged C57BL/6 mice
Cicali KA, Jara C, Cortés-Díaz D, Lira M, Fuentes Í et al.
Cell Death Dis • 2025
Novel Object Localization Test
Objective: To assess spatial memory and localization recognition by measuring the time animals spend exploring an object that has been moved to a new location compared to an object in its original location
This is a Novel Object Localization Test protocol using Mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 2 equipment items, 2 materials. Extracted from a 2025 paper published in Cell Death Dis.
Model and subjects
Mouse • C57BL/6J and SAMP8 • Male and female • 3 and 20-month-old C57BL/6J mice, and 2 and 10-month-old SAMP8 mice • 40
Study window
~2 hour study window
Core workflow
Habituation • Novel Object Recognition test • Novel Object Localization test
Primary readouts
- Localization recognition index (time spent exploring relocated object divided by time exploring both objects)
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.
Habituation
Allow animals to habituate in the testing box without any objects
View evidence from paper
“The animals were habituated in the box for 5 minutes twice on the first day without any object”
Novel Object Recognition test
Place animal in box with two identical objects for 10 minutes, then after 2 hours expose to one old object and one new object
View evidence from paper
“for the NOR test, each animal was placed in the box containing two identical objects (old objects) for 10 min. After 2 h, the animal was exposed to one of the old objects and a new object”
Novel Object Localization test
Perform NOL test 2 hours after NOR test by exposing animals to the same old object with the previous novel object moved to a new location
View evidence from paper
“NOL test was performed 2 h after NOR test; the animals were exposed to the same old object, and the previous novel object's location was changed”
Clean equipment between animals
Clean the box chamber with ethanol before testing the next animal
View evidence from paper
“After each test, the box chamber was cleaned with ethanol before a different mouse was tested”
Calculate localization recognition index
Calculate the index by dividing time spent exploring the relocated object by time exploring both objects
View evidence from paper
“The localization recognition index was calculated by dividing the time the animals spent exploring the new object by the time exploring both objects”