Walker J L, Evans J M, Meade P, Resig P, Sisken B F
Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington 40502.
J Neurosci Methods. 1994 Apr;52(1):47-52. doi: 10.1016/0165-0270(94)90054-x.
The rat sciatic nerve is a well-established animal model for the study of peripheral nerve crush injury. Footprint analysis is the most widely used non-invasive method of measuring functional recovery after injury in this model. However, this method has significant limitations due to inability to obtain clear reproducible prints, especially when the injury is severe, and variation of these prints with gait velocity. In the case of contracture or toe loss, footprint analysis is unreliable. We describe a new technique, gait-stance duration, which is capable of non-invasively quantitating functional recovery in the rat model. This method is not dependent on accurate foot positioning during gait. It utilizes video recording of the animal walking and measures the time each hind foot is in contact with the floor by counting the number of frames that pass. By pairing consecutive steps, it minimizes variation due to changes in velocity and, by calculating a ratio of injured/uninjured hind feet, comparisons to normal gait can be made. This method shows recovery patterns similar to footprint analysis with small inter-animal variability. We believe it has significant advantages over footprint analysis for the measurement of functional recovery in the crushed sciatic nerve rat model.
大鼠坐骨神经是研究周围神经挤压伤的一种成熟的动物模型。足迹分析是该模型中用于测量损伤后功能恢复最广泛使用的非侵入性方法。然而，由于无法获得清晰可重复的足迹，特别是在损伤严重时，以及这些足迹随步态速度的变化，该方法存在显著局限性。在出现挛缩或脚趾缺失的情况下，足迹分析是不可靠的。我们描述了一种新技术，即步态站立持续时间，它能够在大鼠模型中对功能恢复进行非侵入性定量。该方法不依赖于步态过程中准确的足部定位。它利用动物行走的视频记录，通过计算经过的帧数来测量每只后足与地面接触的时间。通过配对连续的步骤，它将因速度变化而产生的变化最小化，并且通过计算受伤/未受伤后足的比率，可以与正常步态进行比较。该方法显示出与足迹分析相似的恢复模式，动物间变异性较小。我们认为，在测量坐骨神经挤压伤大鼠模型的功能恢复方面，它比足迹分析具有显著优势。
