Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Immunology and Infection

Application of Consistent Massage-Like Perturbations on Mouse Calves and Monitoring the Resulting Intramuscular Pressure Changes

Naoyoshi Sakitani^*1, Takahiro Maekawa^*1, Kumiko Saitou^1,2, Katsuhiko Suzuki³, Shuhei Murase^1,4, Masakuni Tokunaga¹, Daisuke Yoshino⁵, Keisuke Sawada⁶, Atsushi Takashima⁷, Motoshi Nagao¹, Toru Ogata¹, Yasuhiro Sawada^1,8

¹Department of Rehabilitation for Motor Functions, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, ²Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, ³Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, ⁴Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, ⁵Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, ⁶University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, ⁷Department of Assistive Technology, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, ⁸Department of Clinical Research, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

Here we describe the protocols for applying defined mechanical loads to mouse calves and for monitoring the concomitant intramuscular pressure changes. The experimental systems that we have developed can be useful for investigating the mechanism behind the beneficial effects of physical exercise and massage.

Biology

Application of Passive Head Motion to Generate Defined Accelerations at the Heads of Rodents

Takahiro Maekawa^*1, Naoyoshi Sakitani^*1, Youngjae Ryu¹, Atsushi Takashima², Shuhei Murase¹, Julius Fink³, Motoshi Nagao¹, Toru Ogata⁴, Masahiro Shinohara¹, Yasuhiro Sawada⁵

¹Department of Rehabilitation for Motor Functions, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, ²Department of Assistive Technology, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, ³Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, ⁴Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, ⁵Department of Clinical Research, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

The present protocol describes a custom-designed ''passive head motion'' system, which reproduces mechanical accelerations at rodents' heads generated during their treadmill running at moderate velocities. It allows dissecting mechanical factors/elements from the beneficial effects of physical exercise.