Staircase Test for Motor Function Assessment in a Hemiparkinsonian Rat

Take a two-compartment staircase box featuring a raised platform and a socket for stairs on both sides.

Arrange the food pellets on the platform and both the stairs and insert it inside the box.

Introduce a rat with hemiparkinsonism, a condition with a lesion in the right hemisphere of the brain.

The rat reaches toward the pellets and uses both paws to grasp the food.

The right hemisphere of the brain regulates the movements on the left side of the body.

The lesion in the right hemisphere damages dopamine-producing neurons, decreasing dopamine or excitatory neurotransmitter levels and reducing signal transmission to the neighboring neurons.

This impairs the motor control of the left paw's movement.

As a result, the rat prefers using the right paw more than the left one.

Remove the rat and count the remaining pellets on both stairs. More pellets on the left stairs indicate impaired motor function of the rat's left paw.