Rodent rote – rod assay

The “Rota-Rod” technique has been originated by a 1957 paper of N.W Dunham and T.S Miya and has been proved to be of great value in research involving screening of drugs which are potentially active on motor coordination. After that, this technique is widely used in scientific researches. There are many methods to test motor coordination or other animal behaviors, but the Rota Rod experiment provides a very easy way to test the effects of drugs, brain damage, or diseases on motor coordination or fatigue resistance in rodents.

The fixed-speed rotarod (FSRR) was introduced first. In a subsequent development, rotation rate of the rod was accelerated (ARR) over the course of the test session for the purpose of reducing the extensive training or setting a maximal time limit for performance. Since then, accelerated rotarod test has become popular in rodent coordination capability standard assay. Recently, an incremental method was merged and indicated that the incremental method is more sensitive for small brain deficit change and for detection of treatment derived recovery in this model (C. Monville et al: J Neurosci Meth 158(2006): 219 – 223).

We have established the incremental fixed-speed rotarod assay according to the new theory, and it can be used for potential affecting animal coordination capability drug screen.