Animals move less when they have problems

Takemiya T, Takeuchi C. Traveled distance is a sensitive and accurate marker of motor dysfunction in a mouse model ofmultiple sclerosis. ISRN Neurosci. 2013;2013:170316.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common central nervous system disease associated with progressive physical impairment. To study the mechanisms of the disease, we used experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. EAE is induced by myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein35-55 peptide, and the severity of paralysis in the disease is generally measured using the EAE score. Here, we compared EAE scores and traveled distance using the open-field test for an assessment of EAE progression. EAE scores were obtained with a 6-step observational scoring system for paralysis, and the traveled distance was obtained by automatic trajectory analysis of natural exploratory behaviors detected by a computer. The traveled distance of the EAE mice started to decrease significantly at day 7 of the EAE process, when the EAE score still did not reflect a change. Moreover, in the relationship between the traveled distance and paralysis as measured by the EAE score after day 14, there was a high coefficient of determination between the distance and the score. The results suggest that traveled distance is a sensitive marker of motor dysfunction in the early phases of EAE progression and that it reflects the degree of motor dysfunction after the onset of paralysis in EAE.

This paper reports that animals move less when they have neurological disease and the worse their neurological disease the less they move. We demonstrated this over the longer term and have been able to translate this into MS and show that mobility loss can be picked up and is an example how one can translate ideas from animals into humans or one can reverse translate and start with observation in humans and then adopt them into readouts in animal models.

Hochsprung A, Heredia-Camacho B, Castillo M, Izquierdo G, Escudero-Uribe S.[Clinical validity of the quantitative gait variables in patients with multiple sclerosis. A comparison of the Timed 25-foot Walk Test and the GAITRite ® Electronic Walkway system].
Rev Neurol. 2014 Jul 1;59(1):8-12.

INTRODUCTION. Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory and degenerative disease in which gait alteration is one of the first symptoms. Its quantitative evaluation is often made by the Timed 25-foot Walk Test (T25FW), although it's limited to know only the distance, the time employed and number of steps. 
AIM. To compare the T25FW with the results from the GAITRite ® Electronic Walkway system (GEW), to know if there is some variability between them. 
PATIENTS AND METHODS. The sample consisted in 85 subjects with multiple sclerosis and able to walking, with or without aids (EDSS: 1.0-6.5). Four walkings were made along the 8 m-length carpet from GEW system, while a different evaluator measured the time employed with a chronometer, and the number of steps in a 25 feet distance marked side by side in the carpet. Velocity was calculated in function of distance and time employed. A mean from the four walkings was made and both of the measures were correlated with SPSS v. 18, considering a results of p < 0.001, statistically significant. 
RESULTS. Time employed (p = 1.000), velocity (p = 0.9995), cadence (p = 0.3296) and number of steps (p = 1.000) were not statistically different. 
CONCLUSIONS. GEW system has the same clinical validity in gait evaluation in multiple sclerosis patients than the T25FW

Will outcomes for MS move out of the twentieth-first century?

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