Laboratory of Biological Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Behav Brain Res. 2013 Mar 15;241:32-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.11.034. Epub 2012 Dec 3.
The physiological and pathophysiological role of the cerebellum in neuromotor performance and gait is a prominent research topic in contemporary brain research. However, it has proven difficult to measure subtle neuromotor changes and cerebellar dysfunction in laboratory rodents with some of the common behavioural assays. Rotarod assays and gait analyses have been used extensively as indicators of neuromotor performance, and more specifically, cerebellar function. Standard rotarod procedures fail to reveal subtle motor alterations, whereas automated gait analysis could be more sensitive in this respect. In the present study, we compared detailed treadmill gait analysis to the standard accelerating rotarod assay in its ability to reveal neuromotor alterations in mice with small bilateral lesions in the cerebellar cortex. This small lesion model showed no readily observable signs of ataxia or abnormal activity. In the rotarod test, cerebellar-lesioned mice performed at the level of control animals, and basic gait parameters were not altered. However, cerebellar-lesioned mice did show increased front base-width and hind stride length variability, as well as increased stride length incongruity between different paws. We conclude that small cerebellar lesions lead to increased gait variability as it does in humans with cerebellar dysfunction. Treadmill gait analysis is better suited than accelerating rotarod assays to measure such subtle neuromotor defects.
小脑在运动和步态方面的生理和病理生理学作用是当代脑研究中的一个重要研究课题。然而，用一些常见的行为测定方法来测量实验室啮齿动物的细微运动变化和小脑功能障碍非常困难。转棒试验和步态分析已广泛用于作为运动表现的指标，特别是小脑功能的指标。标准转棒程序无法揭示细微的运动改变，而自动步态分析在这方面可能更敏感。在本研究中，我们将详细的跑步机步态分析与标准加速转棒试验进行了比较，以了解小脑皮质双侧小损伤的小鼠的运动神经改变。这种小损伤模型没有表现出明显的共济失调或异常活动的迹象。在转棒试验中，小脑损伤的小鼠的表现与对照动物相当，基本步态参数没有改变。然而，小脑损伤的小鼠确实表现出前足基宽和后足步幅长度变异性增加，以及不同爪子之间步长不一致性增加。我们得出结论，小脑损伤会导致步态变异性增加，就像人类小脑功能障碍一样。跑步机步态分析比加速转棒试验更适合测量这种细微的运动神经缺陷。
