Wire-hanging test model

Newsletter # 14



Animal models

The use of many drugs for the treatment of mental disorders is still limited by the presence of clinically undesirable side-effects. Thus, the discovery of CNS effective drugs which are without significant side-effects remains the main challenge for pharmaceutical industries.

In this test, the integrity of muscle function is assessed by the time taken for the mouse to catch a wire in its hindpaws whilst hanging from its forepaws. The myorelaxing effect of diazepam was detected far below the dose that impaired performance on the rotarod or the open-field which indicates the high sensitivity of the wire-hanging test for distinguishing muscle weakness/relaxation or ataxia.

NEUROFIT has validated the wire-hanging test (also called horizontal wire test) as a sensitive model for testing drug-induced muscle weakness/relaxation or ataxia.

  • Wire-hanging test



  • Mean time score (left panel) and percentage of success (right panel) of diazepam-treated mice over 3 successive trials in the wire-hanging test.

  • Open Field test

  • Rotarod test



  • Performance of diazepam-treated mice in the open-field test (left panel) and in the rotarod test (right panel)


NEUROFIT offers a range of validated in vitro and in vivo screening tests for psychiatry and neurology.

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