• Gregory TM
• Fleming DE

• Behavior, Animal / physiology
• Denervation / standards
• Locomotion / physiology
• Spinal Nerve Roots / surgery

The open-field behavior of of 30 laboratory albino rats was measured after selective unilateral sectioning of either the L2, L3, L4 or L5 spinal nerve root using a novel abdominal entry. Although treated subjects displayed observable motor dysfunction of the operated limb, no differences were found in open-field ambulation, rearing, defecation or urination based either on the level of the sectioned nerve root or on the day the behavior was measured, suggesting that there was an effect of the treatment not measurable by standard statistical procedures, quite possibly due to the small sample size.

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