Abstract
Locomotive changes are often associated with disease or injury, and these changes can be quantified through gait analysis. Gait analysis has been applied to preclinical studies, providing quantitative behavioural assessment with a reasonable clinical analogue. However, available gait analysis technology for small animals is somewhat limited. Furthermore, technological and analytical challenges can limit the effectiveness of preclinical gait analysis. The Gait Analysis Instrumentation and Technology Optimized for Rodents (GAITOR) Suite is designed to increase the accessibility of preclinical gait analysis to researchers, facilitating hardware and software customization for broad applications. Here, the GAITOR Suite’s utility is demonstrated in 4 models: a monoiodoacetate (MIA) injection model of joint pain, a sciatic nerve injury model, an elbow joint contracture model, and a spinal cord injury model. The GAITOR Suite identified unique compensatory gait patterns in each model, demonstrating the software’s utility for detecting gait changes in rodent models of highly disparate injuries and diseases. Robust gait analysis may improve preclinical model selection, disease sequelae assessment, and evaluation of potential therapeutics. Our group has provided the GAITOR Suite as an open resource to the research community at www.GAITOR.org, aiming to promote and improve the implementation of gait analysis in preclinical rodent models.
Highlights
Gait analysis has been applied to preclinical studies, providing the benefit of quantitative behavioural assessment with a reasonable clinical analogue
Technological and analytical challenges specific to small animal studies can limit the effectiveness of preclinical gait analysis, and progress in addressing these challenges can be slowed by the proprietary nature of available commercial systems
Our Gait Analysis Instrumentation and Technology Optimized for Rodents (GAITOR) Suite is introduced as an open source gait analysis system
Summary
Gait analysis has been applied to preclinical studies, providing the benefit of quantitative behavioural assessment with a reasonable clinical analogue. There are several commercially available gait analysis tools, such as the CatWalk[24,25], which have seen significant use and offer demonstrably powerful assessments. Commercial arenas and associated software suites can be prohibitively expensive for research groups for which gait assessment is not core to their work. Technological and analytical challenges specific to small animal studies can limit the effectiveness of preclinical gait analysis, and progress in addressing these challenges can be slowed by the proprietary nature of available commercial systems. The GAITOR Suite is designed to increase the accessibility of preclinical gait analysis to the research community, facilitating hardware and software customization for the needs of individual labs
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