Abstract
Syringomyelia (SM) is a spinal cord disorder in which a cyst (syrinx) filled with fluid forms in the spinal cord post-injury/disease, in patients syrinx symptoms include loss of pain and temperature sensation or locomotion deficit. Currently, there are no small animal models and connected tools to help study the functional impacts of SM. The objective of this study was to determine the detectability of subtle locomotion deficits due to syrinx formation/expansion in post-traumatic syringomyelia (PTSM) rat model using the recently reported method of Gait Analysis Instrumentation, and Technology Optimized for Rodents (GAITOR) with Automated Gait Analysis Through Hues and Areas (AGATHA) technique. First videos of the rats were collected while walking in an arena (using GAITOR) followed by extracting meaningful locomotion information from collected videos using AGATHA protocol. PTSM injured rats demonstrated detectable locomotion deficits in terms of duty factor imbalance, paw placement accuracy, step contact width, stride length, and phase dispersion parameters compared to uninjured rats due to SM. We concluded that this technique could detect mild and subtle locomotion deficits associated with PTSM injury, which also in future work could be used further to monitor locomotion responses after different treatment strategies for SM.
Highlights
Syringomyelia (SM) is a neurological disorder where a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-filled cyst, known as a syrinx, forms in the spinal cord due to multiple acquired and congenital causes
The findings obtained from this study using the AGATHA technique suggests that the behavioral impacts of damage due to syrinx formation/expansion are still progressing at 6 weeks
The results from this study demonstrate the utility of GAITOR with AGATHA for detecting mild and subtle locomotion deficits in a non-severe and indirect post-traumatic SM (PTSM) injury small animal model while providing vital quantitative locomotion information
Summary
Syringomyelia (SM) is a neurological disorder where a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-filled cyst, known as a syrinx, forms in the spinal cord due to multiple acquired and congenital causes. It is a common coincidence with multiple neurological diseases such as Chiari malformation I, trauma, and several other disorders [1, 2]. SM associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) is called post-traumatic SM (PTSM), and it develops in about 21–28% of people with SCI [1]. It is not always easy to track the triggering trauma, as it sometimes results from minor injury and takes months to years to fully develop [3], making it challenging to prevent. SM exhibits mainly with chronic progressive pain and neurological deficits [1] because syrinxes compress the surrounding neural tissue while they expand and enlarge, undesirably impacting
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