Rodent Behavioral Tests for Motor Function

Insults to the central nervous system can lead to severe motor impairments in gait or fine motor skills. To develop therapies for motor dysfunction, animal models which have a disease pathophysiology comparable to the clinical population are used. Smaller animals such as rodents are preferred by scientists due to various reasons, such as high reproduction rate and relatively low costs. The use of one test is not ideal to assess all aspects of motor dysfunction, consequently, a number of behavioral tests have been developed to detect and quantify the presence of motor impairments in rodent models. Broadly, the tests provided by Creative Biolabs are divided into 3 groups: tests for motor coordination and balance, tests for locomotor activity, and tests for muscular strength.

Motor Coordination and Balance

For motor coordination and balance assessment, Creative Biolabs has developed and validated the following tests:

Rotarod Test: The rotarod test is a performance-based test on a long cylindrical rotating rod with forced motor activity being applied, usually by rodents. This test can be used to evaluate balance, grip strength, and motor coordination of the rodents.
Pole Test: The pole test evaluates the ability of the mouse to grasp and maneuver on a pole in order to descend to its home cage.
Beam Walking Test: The beam walking test is used to analyze rodent gait in a testing environment that challenges their ability to maintain balance given that the animals have to cross an elevated beam with a narrow diameter.
Tail Suspension Test: Similar to the forced swim test, the tail suspension test is commonly used to assess the effects of psychotropic drugs, such as antidepressants, in mice. However, it has also been used to test motor alterations (i.e., motor coordination) in PD models.

Rodent Behavioral Tests for Motor Function Fig.1 A selection of behavioral tests for mice. (Brook et al. 2009)

Locomotor Activity

For locomotor activity assessment, Creative Biolabs conducts the most commonly used behavioral tests, such as:

Open Field: The open field test provides a useful method to simultaneously measure the exploratory behavior, total locomotor activity levels, and anxiety-like behavior in rodents. The test is based on the tendency of the animal to explore novel areas and avoid bright light.
Cylinder Test: This test can be used to measure spontaneous movements and asymmetry in limb use.

Akinesia & Muscular Strength

For akinesia & muscular strength assessment, Creative Biolabs provides:

Grip Strength: Grip bar strength test is the most commonly used in vivo test for assessing impaired limb strength (forelimb and/or hindlimb) caused by pathology progression or during therapeutic interventions.
Wire Suspension Test: This wire suspension task is used to check muscle strength and prehensile reflex (capacity of the animal to hold a tightly stretched horizontal wire with its forepaws and to remain suspended on the wire).
Catalepsy: This test is defined by the failure to correct an externally imposed posture over a prolonged period of time. There are two common tests of catalepsy, the block test (mostly used in mice) and the bar test (mostly used in rats).

Creative Biolabs provides highly customized behavioral tests to suit specific scientific needs. Moreover, new behavioral tests of motor function are constantly developed and validated.

As an undisputed specialist in neurological disease drug development, Creative Biolabs has an extensive range of rodent neurological disease models for drug efficacy studies:

For more information, please contact us or send us an inquiry.

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