title: Elevated body swing test after focal cerebral ischemia in rodents: methodological considerations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The elevated body swing test (EBST) is a behavioral test used to evaluate experimental stroke in rodents. The basic idea is that when the animal is suspended vertically by the tail, it will swing its head laterally to the left or right depending on lesion side. In a previous study from our lab using the EBST after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo), rats swung contralateral to the infarct day 1 post-MCAo, but ipsilateral day 3 post-MCAo. This shift was unexpected and prompted us to perform the present study. First, the literature was systematically reviewed to elucidate whether a similar shift had been noticed before, and if consensus existed regarding swing direction. Secondly, an experiment was conducted to systematically investigate the suggested behavior. Eighty-three adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to MCAo or sham surgery and the EBST was performed up to 7 days after the lesion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both experimentally and through systematic literature review, the present study shows that the direction of biased swing activity in the EBST for rodents after cerebral ischemia can differ and even shift over time in some situations. The EBST curve for females was significantly different from that of males after the same occlusion time (p = 0.023).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlights the importance of adequate reporting of behavioral tests for lateralization and it is concluded that the EBST cannot be recommended as a test for motor asymmetry after MCAo in rats.
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Center for Diagnostics, Linköping University, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden. edvin.ingberg@liu.se.
authors.forename: Edvin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ingberg
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Center for Diagnostics, Linköping University, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden. johanna.gudjonsdottir.374@student.lu.se.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gudjonsdottir
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Center for Diagnostics, Linköping University, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden. elvar.theodorsson@liu.se.
authors.forename: Elvar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Theodorsson
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Center for Diagnostics, Linköping University, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden. annette.theodorsson@liu.se.|Division of Neuroscience, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Neurosurgery, Anaesthetics, Operations and Specialty Surgery Center, Linköping University, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden. annette.theodorsson@liu.se.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Theodorsson
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Center for Diagnostics, Linköping University, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden. jakob.strom@oru.se.|Vårdvetenskapligt Forskningscentrum/Centre for Health Sciences, Örebro University Hospital, County Council of Örebro, Örebro, Sweden. jakob.strom@oru.se.|School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden. jakob.strom@oru.se.
authors.forename: Jakob O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Ström
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D011897:Random Allocation; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013997:Time Factors