Motion of the foot and ankle during the stance phase in rats

Abstract

Computerized analysis of rat gait is becoming an invaluable technique used by some peripheral nerve investigators for the evaluation of function. In this article we describe the use of a biomechanical model of the foot and ankle that allows a quantitative assessment and description of the ankle angle, reflecting plantarflexion and dorsiflexion during the stance phase of gait. Kinematic data of 144 trial walks from 36 normal rats were recorded with a high-speed digital image camera at 225 images per second. The ankle angular changes associated with the specific temporal events of foot placement on the ground through the stance phase were assessed. The information obtained was used to propose a new subdivision of the stance phase in the rat into three major components. This approach will provide a helpful research tool to analyze gait data that rely on the accurate determination of spatiotemporal foot events.

Evaluation of biodegradable electric conductive tube-guides and mesenchymal stem cells

“…The use of biomechanical techniques and rat's gait kinematic evaluation was a progress in documenting functional recovery, largely published by our research group [3,9,17,31,33,35] . Indeed, the use of biomechanical parameters allows an accurate analysis of the sciatic denervation/reinnervation process, permitting to understand the integration of the neural control acting on the ankle and foot muscles, and thus allowing to evaluate the nerve and muscle regeneration after neurogenic muscle atrophy associated to neurotmesis injuries [60,61] . At the end of the 20-wk healing period, it was performed kinematic gait analysis of rats from the groups where it was applied the biomaterial alone or associated to MSCsbased therapies (PVA, PVA-CNTs, PVA-PPy, and PVACNTs-MSCs groups) and measures of ankle joint angle at the four selected instants of the stance phase (IC, OT, HR and TO) were obtained (Table 3 and Figure 4).…”

Misdirection and guidance of regenerating axons after experimental nerve injury and repair

“…67 Other gait parameters have therefore been investigated, including analysis of the ankle angle. 36,57,64,65,72 An advantage of ankle motion analysis is that it can also be used to investigate the accuracy of reinnervation of muscles involved in ankle plantar (tibial nerve function) and dorsiflexion (peroneal nerve function), 14 especially if used simultaneously with electromyography recordings in the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles. 27 We have used digital video analysis to investigate the recovery of ankle motion after different types of sciatic nerve injury and repair (crush injury, direct coaptation, and autograft repair).…”

Cellular Systems and Biomaterials for Nerve Regeneration in Neurotmesis Injuries

“…The use of biomechanical techniques and rat's gait kinematic evaluation is a progress in documenting functional recovery (Varejao et al, 2003b). Indeed, the use of biomechanical parameters has given valuable insight into the effects of the sciatic denervation/reinnervation, and thus represents an integration of the neural control acting on the ankle and foot muscles (Varejao et al, 2003b;Varejao et al, 2002).…”