Assessment of Cognitive and Sensorimotor Defi cits - Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments - page 232

7. Kitchen sieve with long handle for removing feces from water.
8. Extra housing cage under a heating lamp for warming and
drying the animals.
3. Methods
Generally, the entire process of completing a comprehensive test
battery takes three weeks. After the animals have been transferred
to the housing facility nearest to the behavioral testing rooms, fur-
ther transportation should be limited. For the fi rst week (generally
Monday through Friday), each animal is handled (i.e., allowed to
freely crawl around the hands of the experimenter) for 1 min. Tests
days 1-5 are administered Monday through Friday of the second
week, and the water maze is administered Monday through Friday
of the third week.
Tests generally start in the morning, shortly after the housing
facility's lights cycle on. Although some have argued for testing
during the dark cycle (due to the nocturnal nature of rodents), the
animals are generally used to the daytime noise and caretaker inter-
actions, and we have found that daytime testing offers the greatest
degree of convenience and generalizability across experiments and
laboratories. We move the animals to the testing room and allow
them to rest undisturbed for about 30 min before testing begins.
Approximately 40 animals can be tested per day by one experi-
enced experimenter with the procedures outlined. However, most
tests will go a little smoother with two experimenters—one to
handle and transport the animals and the other to record data and
observations. Due to the relatively complicated nature of animal
behavior, extensive qualitative notes should be kept on each animal.
These notes often provide invaluable answers to questions that
arise while analyzing data after the experiment is completed. Ideally,
the same experimenters will test the same animals every day until
the experiment is complete. Experimenters should be blind to
treatment condition and trained in animal handling/restraining.
They should also remain a consistent and low-key presence to the
animals, wearing a lab coat and similar pants every day, avoiding
the use of perfumes or colognes, remaining quiet (speaking softly
if necessary), silencing phone ringers, staying relatively still, and
moving slowly and calmly when necessary. Experimenters should
consider placing a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the outside of the
testing room's door. Additionally, we run a HEPA fi lter during
testing to create white noise (which has the additional benefi t of
removing some of the animals' fur and dander from the air).
Note that the tests described are most appropriate for post-
weanling animals (21 days and older). Testing short-term behav-
ioral defi cits following brain injury in pre-weanling rodents is more