In most studies, various load tests are used to assess the recovery of functions after spinal cord injury in animals. However, the existing methods of assessing the movement in animals are not sufficiently accurate and objective. We developed a new method for assessing motor activity of laboratory animals that allows objective and highly accurate evaluation of movements in animals with serious neurological disorders caused by spinal cord injury. The swimming test was used as the main load test. Motor activity of swimming animals was assessed by measuring angles relative to the axis of motion, and the degree of angle spread for each joint and limb was estimated using the dispersion parameters depending on the values of the angles of the joints and the dispersion depending on the amplitudes of the angles. In Sprague-Dawley rats, contusion of the spinal cord at the Th9 level was modeled. In the swimming test, healthy control animals showed stability of both variance indicators over 6 weeks. In rats with spinal cord injury, motor activity of the hind limbs tended to increase from the first to the third weeks and remained at this level from the third to sixth weeks. The results suggest that the proposed method can become a good analogue of modern methods for assessing motor activity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Goldstein H, Poole CP, Safko JL. Classical Mechanics. Moscow; Izhevsk, 2012. Russian.
Ahmed RU, Alam M, Zheng YP. Experimental spinal cord injury and behavioral tests in laboratory rats. Heliyon. 2019;5(3):e01324. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01324
Basso DM, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC. A sensitive and reliable locomotor rating scale for open field testing in rats. J. Neurotrauma. 1995;12(1):1-21. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.1995.12.1
Basso DM, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC. Graded histological and locomotor outcomes after spinal cord contusion using the NYU weight-drop device versus transection. Exp. Neurol. 1996;139(2):244-256. doi: https://doi.org/10.1006/exnr.1996.0098
Barros Filho TE, Molina AE. Analysis of the sensitivity and reproducibility of the Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB) scale in Wistar rats. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2008;63(1):103-108. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/s1807-59322008000100018
Bejan A, Marden JH. Constructing animal locomotion from new thermodynamics theory. Am. Scientist. 2006;94(4):342-349. doi: https://doi.org/10.1511/2006.60.1000
Cummings BJ, Engesser-Cesar C, Cadena G, Anderson AJ. Adaptation of a ladder beam walking task to assess locomotor recovery in mice following spinal cord injury. Behav. Brain Res. 2007;177(2):232-241. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2006.11.042
Dittgen T, Pitzer C, Plaas C, Kirsch F, Vogt G, Laage R, Schneider A. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) improves motor recovery in the rat impactor model for spinal cord injury. PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29880. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029880
Dunham NW, Miya TS. A note on a simple apparatus for detecting neurological deficit in rats and mice. J. Am. Pharm. Assoc. Am. Pharm. Assoc. 1957;46(3):208-209. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jps.3030460322
Magnuson DS, Smith RR, Brown EH, Enzmann G, Angeli C, Quesada PM, Burke D. Swimming as a model of taskspecific locomotor retraining after spinal cord injury in the rat. Neurorehabil. Neural Repair. 2009;23(6):535-545. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1545968308331147
Ryu Y, Ogata T, Nagao M, Kitamura T, Morioka K, Ichihara Y, Doi T, Sawada Y, Akai M, Nishimura R, Fujita N. The swimming test is effective for evaluating spasticity after contusive spinal cord injury. PLoS One. 2017;12(2):e0171937. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0171937
Sitoci-Ficici KH, Matyash M, Uckermann O, Galli R, Leipnitz E, Later R, Ikonomidou C, Gelinsky M, Schackert G, Kirsch M. Non-functionalized soft alginate hydrogel promotes locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury in a rat hemimyelonectomy model. Acta Neurochir. (Wien). 2018;160(3):449-457. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-017-3389-4
Smith RR, Burke DA, Baldini AD, Shum-Siu A, Baltzley R, Bunger M, Magnuson DS. The Louisville Swim Scale: a novel assessment of hindlimb function following spinal cord injury in adult rats. J. Neurotrauma. 2006;23(11):1654-1670. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2006.23.1654
Xu N, Åkesson E, Holmberg L, Sundström E. A sensitive and reliable test instrument to assess swimming in rats with spinal cord injury. Behav. Brain Res. 2015;291:172-183. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2015.05.004
Zörner B, Filli L, Starkey ML, Gonzenbach R, Kasper H, Röthlisberger M, Bolliger M, Schwab ME. Profiling locomotor recovery: comprehensive quantification of impairments after CNS damage in rodents. Nat. Methods. 2010;7(9):701-708. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1484
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated from Byulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 172, No. 10, pp. 519-524, October, 2021
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bazanovich, S.A., Yadgarov, M.Y., Zvyagintseva, M.A. et al. A Method of Assessment of the Motor Function of Hind Limbs by Swim Test in Spinal Cord Injury Models. Bull Exp Biol Med 172, 499–503 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10517-022-05422-5
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10517-022-05422-5