Wertman Virginia, Gromova Anastasia, La Spada Albert R, Cortes Constanza J
Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine; Duke Center for Neurodegeneration & Neurotherapeutics, Duke University School of Medicine.
Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine; Duke Center for Neurodegeneration & Neurotherapeutics, Duke University School of Medicine; Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego.
J Vis Exp. 2019 Jul 18(149). doi: 10.3791/59878.
Measurement of animal locomotion is a common behavioral tool used to describe the phenotype of a given disease, injury, or drug model. The low-cost method of gait analysis demonstrated here is a simple but effective measure of gait abnormalities in murine models. Footprints are analyzed by painting a mouse's feet with non-toxic washable paint and allowing the subject to walk through a tunnel on a sheet of paper. The design of the testing tunnel takes advantage of natural mouse behavior and their affinity for small dark places. The stride length, stride width, and toe spread of each mouse is easily measured using a ruler and a pencil. This is a well-established and reliable method, and it generates several metrics that are analogous to digital systems. This approach is sensitive enough to detect changes in stride early in phenotype presentation, and due to its non-invasive approach, it allows for testing of groups across life-span or phenotypic presentation.
测量动物运动是一种常用的行为工具，用于描述特定疾病、损伤或药物模型的表型。这里展示的低成本步态分析方法是一种简单但有效的测量小鼠模型步态异常的方法。通过用无毒可洗涂料涂抹小鼠的足部，然后让其在一张纸上的隧道中行走来分析足迹。测试隧道的设计利用了小鼠的自然行为及其对小而黑暗空间的偏好。使用尺子和铅笔可以轻松测量每只小鼠的步长、步宽和脚趾间距。这是一种成熟且可靠的方法，它生成的几个指标类似于数字系统。这种方法足够灵敏，能够在表型出现早期检测到步幅的变化，并且由于其非侵入性，它允许对不同寿命阶段或表型的群体进行测试。
