2.7. Beam walking test

The beam walking test was performed on the 7th and 14th day after surgery. For the beam balance component, rats were placed on a 1‐inch‐width beam for 60 s. A normal response is balanced with steady posture for 60 s (a score of 0). Deficits are scored if the rat grasps the side of the beam (a score of 1), hugs the beam and 1 limb falls down from beam (a score of 2), hugs the beam and 2 limb falls off the beam (a score of 3), attempts to balance on beam but falls off from 40 to 59 s (a score of 4), attempts to balance on beam but falls off from 20 to 39 s (a score of 5), or falls off with no attempt to balance or hang on beam in 20 s (a score of 6; Huang et al., 2018).