Department of Digital Media Design and Management, Far East University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 2012 Sep;50(9):937-46. doi: 10.1007/s11517-012-0933-5. Epub 2012 Jun 16.
Gait disturbances are common in the rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD) by administrating 6-hydroxydopamine. However, few studies have simultaneously assessed spatiotemporal gait indices and the kinematic information of PD rats during overground locomotion. This study utilized a simple, accurate, and reproducible method for quantifying the spatiotemporal and kinematic changes of gait patterns in hemiparkinsonian rats. A transparent walkway with a tilted mirror was set to capture underview footprints and lateral joint ankle images using a high-speed and high-resolution digital camera. The footprint images were semi-automatically processed with a threshold setting to identify the boundaries of soles and the critical points of each hindlimb for deriving the spatiotemporal and kinematic indices of gait. Following PD lesion, asymmetrical gait patterns including a significant decrease in the step/stride length and increases in the base of support and ankle joint angle were found. The increased footprint length, toe spread, and intermediary toe spread were found, indicating a compensatory gait pattern for impaired locomotor function. The temporal indices showed a significant decrease in the walking speed with increased durations of the stance/swing phase and double support time, which was more evident in the affected hindlimb. Furthermore, the ankle kinematic data showed that the joint angle decreased at the toe contact stage. We conclude that the proposed gait analysis method can be used to precisely detect locomotor function changes in PD rats, which is useful for objective assessments of investigating novel treatments for PD animal model.
在给予 6-羟多巴胺的帕金森病 (PD) 大鼠模型中，步态障碍很常见。然而，很少有研究同时评估 PD 大鼠在地面运动时的时空步态指数和运动学信息。本研究利用一种简单、准确和可重复的方法来量化偏侧帕金森大鼠步态模式的时空和运动学变化。设置一个透明的走道，带有倾斜的镜子，使用高速和高分辨率数码相机捕捉足底的俯脚印和踝关节的侧视图图像。使用阈值设置对半自动化处理脚印图像，以识别鞋底的边界和每个后肢的关键点，从而得出步态的时空和运动学指数。PD 损伤后，发现步态模式不对称，包括步长/步幅明显减小、支撑基础增大和踝关节角度增加。还发现脚印长度、脚趾张开和中间脚趾张开增加，表明存在运动功能受损的代偿步态模式。时间指数显示行走速度显著降低，站立/摆动阶段和双支撑时间的持续时间增加，在受影响的后肢更为明显。此外，踝关节运动学数据显示，在脚趾接触阶段关节角度减小。我们得出结论，所提出的步态分析方法可用于精确检测 PD 大鼠的运动功能变化，这对于客观评估 PD 动物模型的新型治疗方法很有用。
