Automated quantitative gait analysis during overground locomotion in the rat: Its application to spinal cord contusion and transection injuries

Analysis of locomotion is an important tool in the study of peripheral and central nervous system damage. Most locomotor scoring systems in rodents ar e based either upon open field locomotion assessment, for example, the BBB score or upon foot print analysis. The former yields a semiquantitative des cription of locomotion as a whole, whereas the latter generates quantitativ e data on several selected gait parameters. In this paper, we describe the use of a newly developed gait analysis method that allows easy quantitation of a large number of locomotion parameters during walkway crossing. We wer e able to extract data on interlimb coordination, swing duration, paw print areas (total over stance, and at 20-msec time resolution), stride length, and base of support: Similar data can not be gathered by any single previou sly described method. We compare changes in gait parameters induced by two different models of spinal cord injury in rats, transection of the dorsal h alf of the spinal cord and spinal cord contusion injury induced by the NYU or MASCIS device. Although we applied this method to rats with spinal cord injury, the usefulness of this method is not limited to rats or to the inve stigation of spinal cord injuries alone.