Abstract
To better understand the pathophysiology and functional outcomes of musculoskeletal and neuromotor pathologies, research is often conducted in mice models. As a key component of such research, metrics of movement, loading, symmetry, and stability all have to be assessed, ideally requiring the measurement of 3D ground reaction forces, which can be difficult. While the measurement of ground reaction forces (GRF) is well developed for humans, appropriate devices for mice remain rare or inadequate. Such devices need to combine high sensitivity with small dimensions, especially when the forces for each individual paw should be measured. As preparation for building such a device that can measure 3D GRF per paw in mice in an upcoming study, this systematic review of the literature identified 122 articles and 49 devices that measured the ground reaction forces for mice and other small animals. Based on a variety of criteria, such as sensitivity and resonance frequency, the miniaturisation of each device and/or its capability to measure the three components of the ground reaction forces in individual paws were judged. The devices were consequently classified; eight devices were classified as “can be adapted”, nine as “hard to be adapted”, and 24 as “cannot be adapted”.
Highlights
Reaction Forces in Mice: A Review.The measurement of the ground reaction forces (GRFs) is used in a wide range of human movement studies, for instance, to investigate the internal forces in rehabilitation [1]or sports coaching [2,3], but importantly to monitor the progression of musculoskeletal pathologies and neuromotor disorders [4,5]
Researchers are investigating the effects of mechanical intervention therapies for improving bone properties and musculoskeletal regeneration [13,14]; measuring the GRFs per paw in mice before and after the interventions can help better qualify the results
In this review of the literature, we investigated devices used for measuring GRFs in small animals during functional movements
Summary
Another study covered a large force plate (152.5 mm × 152.5 mm) with a walkway constructed of three separated wooden plates in which only the middle one was the same size as a mouse paw and was in direct contact with the force plate, another study was able to measure the GRFs for individual paws in mice [24]. Such solutions remain non-optimal due to the use of large forces plates, restricting the assessment of multiple successive steps. This study reviews the force plates available for rodents and small animals and evaluates how they could be adapted towards a force plate design capable of measuring 3D GRFs in mice for each individual paw and successive steps
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