Rotorod Protocol

General Overview
The rotorod is designed to assess motor coordination, balance and equilibrium. The mouse is placed on the rod and the rotorod accelerates gradually. Latencies for the mice to fall from the rod are recorded.

Apparatus
The rorotod consists of a semi-enclosed chamber which contains a beam (diameter: 3 cm, width: 5 cm) made of ribbed plastic and flanked by round plates on either side to prevent any escape (Accuscan Instruments, Columbus, OH). The rod is suspended at a height of 35 cm above the floor.

Procedure
The mouse is placed on top of the beam facing away from the experimenter's view, in the orientation opposite to that of its rotation, so that forward locomotion is necessary for fall avoidance. The rotorod accelerates gradually without jerks from 0 to 35 rpm over a 2-minute trial. Latencies for the mice to fall from the rod are recorded automatically by computer. Each mouse is given 2-5 trials with a 15-min intertrial interval on each of 3-5 consecutive days.