The rotarod apparatus (manufactured at UCSF machine shop—Department of Physiology) consisted of a rotating stainless steel cylinder divided into a series of 10–15 cm lanes, which provided constant acceleration between 0 and 10 rpm. Baseline performance was determined over 1 day with five trials per session at a fixed speed of 2.5 rpm, three sessions per day. Two more sessions were performed on these rats 18 days after viral infusion with constant acceleration of 0.5 rpm/s for a maximum speed of 5 rpm. The maximum time for each trial was 120 seconds. Rats were monitored during the rotarod procedure and the latency to fall was recorded (cut-off time = 3 minutes). The same animals were used to measure locomotor activity in an open field and latency to fall from rotarod. The open field was conducted in the mornings and the rotarod test during the afternoons with a time difference of 3–4 hours between the two procedures.
