CatWalk XT gait parameters: a review of reported parameters in pre-clinical studies of multiple central nervous system and peripheral nervous system disease models

Abstract

Automated gait assessment tests are used in studies of disorders characterized by gait impairment. CatWalk XT is one of the first commercially available automated systems for analyzing the gait of rodents and is currently the most used system in peer-reviewed publications. This automated gait analysis system can generate a large number of gait parameters. However, this creates a new challenge in selecting relevant parameters that describe the changes within a particular disease model. Here, for the first time, we performed a multi-disorder review on published CatWalk XT data. We identify commonly reported CatWalk XT gait parameters derived from 91 peer-reviewed experimental studies in mice, covering six disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). The disorders modeled in mice were traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, sciatic nerve injury (SNI), spinal cord injury (SCI), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and ataxia. Our review consisted of parameter selection, clustering, categorization, statistical evaluation, and data visualization. It suggests that certain gait parameters serve as potential indicators of gait dysfunction across multiple disease models, while others are specific to particular models. The findings also suggest that the more site-specific the injury is, the fewer parameters are reported to characterize its gait abnormalities. This study strives to present a clearly organized picture of gait parameters used in each one of the different mouse models, potentially helping novel CatWalk XT users to apply this information to similar or related mouse models they are working on.

Inhibition of Apoptosis in a Model of Ischemic Stroke Leads to Enhanced Cell Survival, Endogenous Neural Precursor Cell Activation and Improved Functional Outcomes

“…We further evaluated motor function using CatWalk gait analyses to monitor gait. Similar to previous studies, we observed increased phase dispersion (irregular placement of forepaws) and decreased coupling (asynchronous paw placement) in our stroke+vehicle mice at PSD8 (Figure 4F) [36]. Notably, stroke+NWL283 mice displayed phase dispersion and coupling that resembled their baseline values and were improved compared to stroke+vehicle (phase dispersion: stroke+vehicle = 3.64 ± 0.89% vs. stroke+NWL283 = −0.041 ± 1.21%; p = 0.048) (coupling: stroke+vehicle = −3.0 ± 0.76% vs. stroke+NWL283 = −1.0 ± 0.91%; p = 0.028) (Figure 4F).…”

Gene-dosage- and sex-dependent differences in the prodromal-Like phase of the F344tgHD rat model for Huntington disease

“…In addition to the classical RotaRod approach, we addressed the demand made in Plank et al (2018) to apply an additional, more sensitive method to investigate motor function and gait. The CatWalk assay can measure over 250 parameters and allows a more holistic investigation of locomotion compared to the classical RotaRod approach ( Vandeputte et al, 2010 ; Timotius et al, 2023 ). Clear differences were detected between both sexes of the F344tgHD model, as already observed with the RotaRod approach.…”

Curcumin regulates autophagy through SIRT3-SOD2-ROS signaling pathway to improve quadriceps femoris muscle atrophy in KOA rat model

“…We used the CatWalk XT automated gait analysis system to analyze the gait of each group of rats (Noldus Information Technology, Netherlands, https://www.noldus.com/catwalk-xt ) 45 , 46 . The software name is CatWalk™ XT and version is 10.6.…”