Beam Walking Test

Rats were placed on one end of a suspended, narrow wooden beam (1 cm wide, 100 cm long) 30cm above ground. The travel time (latency) from one end of the beam to the other was measured. Bright lights were used to motivate the animal to traverse the beam in order to reach the other end with a darkened goal box. At each session, maximum of 60 seconds were given for rats to traverse the beam. The rats were pre-trained to traverse the beam the day prior to injury, and latency was measured before the injury (pre). The latency to traverse the beam was measured starting 1 day after injury and for 5 consecutive days after injury. Beam walking sessions were done prior to TMS or sham stimulation sessions each day to avoid acute effects of TMS and anesthesia on behavior. Sham group was used in this experiment without any treatment such as TBI, TMS, or EE.