Mouse Specifics analyzed the gait of animals with Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using a high speed digital imaging system. Mice were placed on a specially devised treadmill with a transparent belt to quantify gait indices. The animals had been treated with toxins to mimic symptoms of either Parkinson’s or Huntington’s disease, or were genetically modified to replicate symptoms of ALS
Gait analysis is the process of quantification and interpretation of locomotion. In humans, gait analysis is widely used to quantify patients’ movement disorders to provide diagnosis and treatment options.
Mouse Specifics says the distinct gait patterns of mice with these central nervous system disorders reflects impairment of specific neural pathways involved in the different aspects of the diseases and provides the basis for testing new therapies.
As in patients, mice with Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease exhibited less steady gait than healthy mice, with greater stride-to-stride variability of gait cycle timing. Upper limb dynamics were more variable in mice with Huntington’s disease than in mice with Parkinson’s disease and gait variability was less disturbed in mice with ALS than in mice with Parkinson’s. The altered gait dynamics in the different mouse models indicate that specific neural pathways are involved in the different observed gait pathologies.
“The ability to quantify and distinguish measures of ‘walking’ in mice with, say, Parkinson’s disease and mice with Huntington’s disease provides a new opportunity to zero in on the mechanisms underlying their distinct pathologies and characteristics,” said visiting professor Ivo Amende, Medical University Hannover and lead author of the study. “Our hope is that gait analysis in mouse models of human movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases will accelerate the development of drugs to prevent or reverse gait disturbances.”