Nov 13, 2024

Public workspaceAccelerating Rotarod Task in Mice

  • 1Stanford University
Icon indicating open access to content
QR code linking to this content
Protocol CitationRichard H. Roth, Yue Sun, Fuu-Jiun Hwang, Jun B. Ding 2024. Accelerating Rotarod Task in Mice. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl8dm56g2w/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,  which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: November 08, 2024
Last Modified: November 13, 2024
Protocol Integer ID: 111828
Keywords: ASAPCRN
Funders Acknowledgement:
Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP)
Grant ID: ASAP-020551
Abstract
This protocol describes an accelerating rotarod task used to study motor learning in mice.
Image Attribution
Schematic of rotarod apparatus.  
Guidelines
Animals: Mice are placed in a reverse 12h light/dark cycle room for at least one week prior to training.
Safety warnings
Wear appropriate PPE as required by your institution.
Ethics statement
Prior ethics approval (e.g. IACUC) should be obtained before performing these experiments. Approval was obtained by the Stanford University IACUC before any procedures were performed.
Training (4 days)
Training (4 days)
For the accelerating rotarod task, mice are trained for 4 days with 3 training sessions each day each 1 hours apart.
The first 2 days, the rotarod is set up to accelerate from 4 rpm to 40 rpm linearly over 5 minutes.
The last 2 days, the rotarod is set up to accelerate from 8 rpm to 80 rpm linearly over 5 minutes.
Once mice are placed on the rotarod and are stable on the stationary rod, the motor is turned on.
Behavioral performance is quantified by measuring the time it takes for the mouse to fall off the rod from the beginning of rotation.