Week 7

Welcome back!

Week 7 was very exciting! Firstly, our data from the non-divided cages on Day 1 looks just as promising as that from Day 2 and mirrors some significant patterns that seem to show the enrichment devices are actually functioning as intended. 

Rot-A-Rod Machine

Second, BALB/c mice are not very intelligent. We completed three days of Rot-A-Rod testing with them this week to very poor results from all groups leading us to believe that this strain of mice simply doesn’t perform as well as others in this type of cognitive test. So what is a Rot-A-Rod test? The Rot-A-Rod performance test is a performance test based on a rotating rod with forced motor activity being applied, usually by a rodent. The test measures parameters such as riding time (seconds) or endurance. Some of the functions of the test include evaluating balance, grip strength and motor coordination of the subjects; especially in testing the effect of experimental drugs or after traumatic brain injury. Although the test didn’t achieve much, in terms of our devices, they don’t seem to have hurt performance on the test or help it significantly.  The test itself was very interesting to run and I had a lot of fun learning how to do it! 

And then it was back to video, for the rest of the week, I started collecting data from the first few clips of Day 7 data!

Thanks!

Tasha