Rotarod Test
Objective: Assessment of motor coordination and balance by measuring ability to remain on a rotating rod
This is a Rotarod Test protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 3 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 2 materials. Extracted from a 2016 paper published in Stroke.
Model and subjects
mouse • C57BL/6 • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~1 week study window
Core workflow
Induce transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) or permanent distal MCAO (dMCAO) • Administer IL-4 or vehicle infusion • Perform Rotarod test
Primary readouts
- Ability to remain on rotating rod (motor coordination and balance)
- Neuronal tissue loss (verified by two independent neuron markers)
- Markers of classically activated (M1) microglia
- Markers of alternatively activated (M2) microglia
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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- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
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Protocol Steps
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Induce transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) or permanent distal MCAO (dMCAO)
Perform tMCAO or dMCAO in wild-type (WT) and IL-4 knockout (KO) C57BL/6 mice
Note: Two different surgical approaches used in different animal groups
View evidence from paper
“Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) or permanent distal MCAO (dMCAO) was induced in wild-type (WT) and IL-4 knockout (KO) C57/BL6 mice”
Administer IL-4 or vehicle infusion
In a separate cohort of WT animals, infuse IL-4 (60 ng/d for 7d) or vehicle into the cerebroventricle after tMCAO
Note: This is a separate cohort from the knockout and tMCAO/dMCAO comparison groups
View evidence from paper
“In a separate cohort of WT animals, IL-4 (60 ng/d for 7d) or vehicle was infused into the cerebroventricle after tMCAO”
Perform Rotarod test
Assess motor coordination and balance using the Rotarod test
Note: Part of behavioral outcome assessment battery
View evidence from paper
“Behavioral outcomes were assessed by the Rotarod, corner, foot fault, and Morris water maze tests”