Balance/Challenge Beam Mesh Grids by pklikesbrains

Last crawled date: 2 years, 11 months ago

These are custom made 1cm opening mesh risers for adapting the Lafayette Neuroscience Balance Beam for mice (model #80306, https://lafayetteneuroscience.com/products/balance-beam-test-mice) to make it more challenging and better test mouse coordination and locomotion.
Each segment will fit snugly around its respective beam segment without need for fasteners or glue.
When assaying mouse coordination, we have found success with the following protocol.
Set-up: Balance Beam is attached to two tripods at either end with the 5mm segment elevated and the beam at 15° incline. A dark box is placed at the top of the incline with home cage bedding and a single light source is placed above the beam origin (35mm segment).
Assay: Mice are trained on day one with five assisted trials traversing the beam without the challenge grid in place. On day two, these challenge grids are put in place and 3 trials are conducted unassisted. Mice are video recorded and blindly scored
Recommend printing topside down and with the smallest layer height possible as, thin spans can be prone to breakage.