Also: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis & Gait in Mice in JNER.
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See How They Run!
June 2007
Mouse Specifics, Inc. [MSI] has agreed to equip Boston’s famed Museum of Science [MOS] with a DigiGait Imaging System for gait analysis in mice. Boston’s Museum of Science is one of the world’s largest science centers, attracting nearly 1.5 million visitors a year. Founded in 1830, the MOS was the first to aggregate all of the sciences within one center. The Museum is ranked as one of the top science museums in the US, largely attributable to its vibrant programs and over 700 interactive exhibits. The MOS has recently launched its Life Sciences Initiative to advance awareness of, and discussions about, the implications of genetics and biotechnology in our lives. The Life Sciences Initiative reflects the Museum's historic focus on science thinking skills and its emphasis on technological literacy – "the attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to use, understand, and think critically about the technologies shaping our lives and our world" [1].
The DigiGait Imaging System is patented instrumentation for discerning the effects of disease, genes, and novel biotherapeutics on how mice walk on a treadmill. Since many human conditions, such as Huntington’s disease, spinal cord injury, and arthritis, result in motor function disturbances, it is of interest to researchers and scientists to determine how motor function might be comparably disturbed in model organisms. Mice with spinal cord injury, for example, exhibit asymmetries between forelimb and hind limb coordination [2], the extent of which may be used to gauge restoration of function after experimental therapies, such as stem cells, for example. Mice with Parkinson’s disease exhibit a shortened stride and a variable stance width, reflecting gait disturbances typical to patients with Parkinson’s disease [3]. The DigiGait instrumentation has also demonstrated the potential therapeutic benefit of a common beta-blocker in delaying the onset of gait disturbances in an animal model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [4]. Because of its unique capabilities of quantifying the postural and kinematic characteristics of walking, an activity that most of us take for granted but coveted by those with limited mobility, the DigiGait instrumentation is rapidly becoming the gold standard for functional measures in biomedical research.
