Kinematic and electromyographic tools for characterizing movement disorders in mice.

Increasing interest in rodent models for movement disorders has led to an increasing need for more accurate and precise methods for both delineating the nature of abnormal movements and measuring their severity. These studies describe application of simultaneous high-speed video kinematics with multichannel electromyography (EMG) to characterize the movement disorder exhibited by tottering mutant mice. These mice provide a uniquely valuable model, because they exhibit paroxysmal dystonia superimposed on mild baseline ataxia, permitting the examination of these two different problems within the same animals.

Treadmill locomotion in normal mice-Step related multi-channel EMG profiles of thigh muscles.

Mouse models are increasingly used in current research on motor disorders. In mice, the myoelectrical activation of thigh muscles during locomotion has not yet, however, been investigated in depth. Especially intramuscular coordination has hardly been clarified.

Multi-channel EMG of the M. triceps brachii in rats during treadmill locomotion.

Objectives: The study aims at a precise characterisation of intramuscularly varying recruitment patterns within the triceps brachii muscle (long and lateral head; proximal, medial, distal regions) in the time course of averaged step cycles during locomotion.

Methods: The triceps brachii muscle of 15 Hannover rats was investigated with a supramuscular 16-electrodes grid during treadmill locomotion. Multi-channel electromyogram (EMG) was recorded simultaneously with high-speed videography.