Neurologic assessment of somatosensory dysfunction following an experimental rodent model of cerebral ischemia

The modified adhesive removal (sticky-tape) test is an assessment of somatosensory dysfunction following cerebral ischemia in rats. This test is less time consuming than the original protocol by virtue of requiring minimal pre-training. We present a detailed protocol describing how to conduct the modified adhesive removal (sticky-tape) test. Following right middle cerebral artery occlusion (rMCAo) using an intraluminal filament, animals undergo the modified sticky-tape test (MST) on post-operative days 1, 3, 7 and 10. For the test, a non-removable tape sleeve is placed around the animal's paw and the time to remove the stimulus is measured. The time spent attending to this stimulus is also recorded. Animals undergoing MST for the first time demonstrate nearly-uniform excellent performance. However, following rMCAo, the ratio of left to right performance on the MST is significantly different at all time points. In short, the MST accurately assesses neurological dysfunction in rodents, not only with minimal pre-training, but also with accurate localization to the side of injury.