{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T05:46:08Z","timestamp":1785735968242,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    In unilateral rodent models of disease or injury, deficits are induced in only one side of the body, allowing the difference in right versus left limb usage to serve as a metric of disease\/injury severity and recovery with various treatments. Unilateral rat models are commonly used for conditions such as Parkinson\u2019s disease (via the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine, 6-OHDA), stroke, and traumatic brain injury, as well as cervical spinal cord injury and peripheral nerve damage. The \u2018cylinder test\u2019 has been used for over two decades as a reliable metric of asymmetry in forelimb usage. In this test, videos are taken of the rodent in a vertical cylinder as it explores its surroundings. The experimenter then logs which forepaw was used to first touch the cylinder wall each time the animal reared up on its hind limbs to start a new wall exploration sequence. The process of manually scanning through videos and logging left\/right paw touches can be very time consuming and prone to errors. To streamline this process, we made\n                    <jats:italic>The Ratalyzer<\/jats:italic>\n                    , an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) that: (1) facilitates efficiently moving through videos to find each initial wall touch event, (2) blinds the assessor to the animal and treatment state, and (3) electronically logs the paw-touch event type and time with just a push of a button thus eliminating error-prone paper notes or manual data entry. We are making this useful software tool available to the research community as both a compiled stand-alone program and as open-source MATLAB code. This tool could be useful for both researchers and educators, as analyzing cylinder-test videos via this GUI is a great way to engage high school and undergraduate students in performing neuroscience research without the risks and costs associated with making live animals available to students for hands-on testing.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2026.1803569","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T05:31:30Z","timestamp":1785735090000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A user-friendly graphical user interface for paw touch classification in rodent cylinder testing"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Tyler R.","family":"Johnson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Cleveland Clinic Research, The Cleveland Clinic","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]},{"name":"Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center of Excellence, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katherine D.","family":"Zerefos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Cleveland Clinic Research, The Cleveland Clinic","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dawn M.","family":"Taylor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Cleveland Clinic Research, The Cleveland Clinic","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]},{"name":"Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center of Excellence, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center","place":["Cleveland, OH, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4939-7526-6_10","article-title":"A complete guide to using the Endothelin-1 model of stroke in conscious rats for acute and long-term recovery studies","volume":"1717","author":"Abeysinghe","year":"2018","journal-title":"Methods Mol. Biol."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e59979","DOI":"10.3791\/59979","article-title":"Automated rat single-pellet reaching with 3-dimensional reconstruction of paw and digit trajectories","volume":"149","author":"Bova","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Vis. Exp."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.3389\/fnagi.2017.00010","article-title":"Crossed cerebellar atrophy of the lateral cerebellar nucleus in an endothelin-1-induced, rodent model of ischemic stroke","volume":"9","author":"Chan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Aging Neurosci."},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"808","DOI":"10.1177\/15459683241277194","article-title":"Carry-over effect of deep cerebellar stimulation-mediated motor recovery in a rodent model of traumatic brain injury","volume":"38","author":"Chan","year":"2024","journal-title":"Neurorehabil. Neural Repair"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroscience.2022.11.004","article-title":"Chronic treatment with the probiotics Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis BB12 attenuates motor impairment, striatal microglial activation, and dopaminergic loss in rats with 6-hydroxydopamine-induced hemiparkinsonism","volume":"507","author":"Cuevas-Carbonell","year":"2022","journal-title":"Neuroscience"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"476","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neurom.2023.03.018","article-title":"On-off and proportional closed-loop adaptive deep brain stimulation reduces motor symptoms in freely moving Hemiparkinsonian rats","volume":"27","author":"Evers","year":"2024","journal-title":"Neuromodulation"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.29115\/SP-2013-0008","article-title":"To click, type or drag? Evaluating speed of survey data input methods","volume":"6","author":"Fernandez","year":"2013","journal-title":"Surv. Pract."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5333","DOI":"10.1007\/s12035-024-04611-9","article-title":"Deletion of the transient receptor potential melastatin 2 gene mitigates the 6-hydroxydopamine-induced Parkinson\u2019s disease-like pathology","volume":"62","author":"Ferreira","year":"2025","journal-title":"Mol. Neurobiol."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1325","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.12584","article-title":"BORIS: a free, versatile open-source event-logging software for video\/audio coding and live observations","volume":"7","author":"Friard","year":"2016","journal-title":"Methods Ecol. Evol."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"284","DOI":"10.1161\/STROKEAHA.120.031191","article-title":"Enhanced mesenchymal stromal cells or erythropoietin provide long-term functional benefit after neonatal stroke","volume":"52","author":"Larpthaveesarp","year":"2021","journal-title":"Stroke"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"496","DOI":"10.1038\/s41592-022-01443-0","article-title":"Multi-animal pose estimation, identification and tracking with DeepLabCut","volume":"19","author":"Lauer","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat. Methods"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1281","DOI":"10.1038\/s41593-018-0209-y","article-title":"DeepLabCut: markerless pose estimation of user-defined body parts with deep learning","volume":"21","author":"Mathis","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biomaterials.2015.12.009","article-title":"Tissue plasminogen activator followed by antioxidant-loaded nanoparticle delivery promotes activation\/mobilization of progenitor cells in infarcted rat brain","volume":"81","author":"Petro","year":"2016","journal-title":"Biomaterials"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"777","DOI":"10.1016\/S0028-3908(00)00005-8","article-title":"CNS plasticity and assessment of forelimb sensorimotor outcome in unilateral rat models of stroke, cortical ablation, parkinsonism and spinal cord injury","volume":"39","author":"Schallert","year":"2000","journal-title":"Neuropharmocology"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"148691","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brainres.2023.148691","article-title":"STAT3 protects dopaminergic neurons against degeneration in animal model of Parkinson\u2019s disease","volume":"1824","author":"Smit","year":"2023","journal-title":"Brain Res."},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"982218","DOI":"10.3389\/fnbeh.2022.982218","article-title":"Longitudinal assessment of motor function following the unilateral intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesion model in mice","volume":"16","author":"Sun","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Behav. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"176","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhab201","article-title":"Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound enhances neurotrophic factors and alleviates Neuroinflammation in a rat model of Parkinson's disease","volume":"32","author":"Sung","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cereb. Cortex"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"114815","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbr.2023.114815","article-title":"Transcranial direct current stimulation improves motor function in rats with 6-hydroxydopamine-induced parkinsonism","volume":"460","author":"Tamura","year":"2024","journal-title":"Behav. Brain Res."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroscience.2020.09.006","article-title":"Lactate administration reduces brain injury and ameliorates behavioral outcomes following neonatal hypoxia-ischemia","volume":"448","author":"Tassinari","year":"2020","journal-title":"Neuroscience"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"106611","DOI":"10.1016\/j.phrs.2022.106611","article-title":"Post-stroke administration of H2 relaxin reduces functional deficits, neuronal apoptosis and immune cell infiltration into the mouse brain","volume":"187","author":"Truong","year":"2023","journal-title":"Pharmacol. Res."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1491","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcyt.2024.07.012","article-title":"Human neural stem cells transplanted during the sequelae phase alleviate motor deficits in a rat model of cerebral palsy","volume":"26","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Cytotherapy"},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"478","DOI":"10.1177\/0023677218815210","article-title":"Reliability of behavioral tests in the middle cerebral artery occlusion model of rat","volume":"53","author":"Yu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lab Anim."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Neuroscience"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnins.2026.1803569\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T05:31:31Z","timestamp":1785735091000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnins.2026.1803569\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"references-count":22,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fnins.2026.1803569"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fnins.2026.1803569","relation":{},"ISSN":["1662-453X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1662-453X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"article-number":"1803569"}}