BAMOS: A recording application for BAsso MOuse scale of locomotion in experimental models of spinal cord injury

Abstract

Transparency in science is increasingly a hot topic. Scientists are required to show not only results but also evidence of how they have achieved these results. In experimental studies of spinal cord injury, there are a number of standardized tests, such as the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor rating scale for rats and Basso Mouse Scale for mice, which researchers use to study the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury and to evaluate the effects of experimental therapies. Although the standardized data from the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor rating scale and the Basso Mouse Scale are particularly suited for storage and sharing in databases, systems of data acquisition and repositories are still lacking. To the best of our knowledge, both tests are usually conducted manually, with the data being recorded on a paper form, which may be documented with video recordings, before the data is transferred to a spreadsheet for analysis. The data thus obtained is used to compute global scores, which is the information that usually appears in publications, with a wealth of information being omitted. This information may be relevant to understand locomotion deficits or recovery, or even important aspects of the treatment effects. Therefore, this paper presents a mobile application to record and share Basso Mouse Scale tests, meeting the following criteria: i) user-friendly; ii) few hardware requirements (only a smartphone or tablet with a camera running under Android Operating System); and iii) based on open source software such as SQLite, XML, Java, Android Studio and Android SDK. The BAMOS app can be downloaded and installed from the Google Market repository and the app code is available at the GitHub repository. The BAMOS app demonstrates that mobile technology constitutes an opportunity to develop tools for aiding spinal cord injury scientists in recording and sharing experimental data.