Clinical and Neurologic Evaluation of the Mouse

Test	Normal Response	System tested
Body condition	No visible bony protruberences, no obesity	General health
Respiration	Barely visible	Cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal, hematopoeitic systems
Eyelids	Wide open, clean, no excessive lacrimation	Ocular disease, central nervous system
Teeth and tongue	Teeth are aligned, tongue moves and is pink and smooth, no excessive salivation	Abnormalities can cause emaciation and death
Skin and coat	Pink mucosae, smooth skin and intact coat	Cardiopulmonary, hematologic and dermatologic systems
Body tone	Slight resistance when squeezed gently	General health, nervous, musculoskeletal, behavioral systems
Abdominal palpation	No masses, slight resistance	Intrabdominal disease, nervous, musculoskeletal, behavioral systems
Limb tone/grasping strength	Detectable tone, strong grasp on cage wire	Nervous, musculoskeletal, behavioral systems
Spontaneous activity	Grooming, moderate movement and exploration	General health, neuromuscular system, anxiety, fear
Observation of body position	Sitting or standing	General health, neuromuscular system
Tremors	None	Central nervous system
Circling/ataxia	None	Vestibular or cerebellar disease
Quadri/paraplegia/tail position/gait	Normal gait with horizontally extended tail	Central nervous system, musculoskeletal system
Seizures	No	Central nervous system
Stereotypies	No	Central nervous system, behavioral
Trunk and limb position when lifted by tail	Trunk curls, limbs splayed	Central nervous system, behavioral
Visual placing	Forearms extend to meet cage floor when mouse is lowered by tail	Visual system
Forelimb wheelbarrow	Forearms move normally when hind limbs elevated by tail.	Central nervous and musculoskeletal systems
Eye blink and ear twitch reflexes	Single eye blink, ear retraction	Cranial nerves V and VII
Toe pinch	Retraction	Central nervous and musculoskeletal systems
Righting reflex	Immediately rights when placed supine	Central nervous and musculoskeletal systems
Induced biting	Can be normal	Behavioral
Spontaneous biting	Abnormal	Behavioral
Vocalization when restrained	Can be normal	Behavioral