New reliable scoring system, Toyama mouse score, to evaluate locomotor function following spinal cord injury in mice

Abstract

BackgroundAmong the variety of methods used to evaluate locomotor function following a spinal cord injury (SCI), the Basso Mouse Scale score (BMS) has been widely used for mice. However, the BMS mainly focuses on hindlimb movement rather than on graded changes in body support ability. In addition, some of the scoring methods include double or triple criteria within a single score, which likely leads to an increase in the deviation within the data. Therefore we aimed to establish a new scoring method reliable and easy to perform in mice with SCI.FindingsOur Toyama Mouse Score (TMS) was established by rearranging and simplifying the BMS score and combining it with the Body Support Scale score (BSS). The TMS reflects changes in both body support ability and hindlimb movement. The definition of single score is made by combing multiple criteria in the BMS. The ambiguity was improved in the TMS. Using contusive SCI mice, hindlimb function was measured using the TMS, BMS and BSS systems. The TMS could distinguish changes in hindlimb movements that were evaluated as the same score by the BMS. An analysis of the coefficient of variation (CV) of score points recorded for 11 days revealed that the CV for the TMS was significantly lower than the CV obtained using the BMS. A variation in intra evaluators was lower in the TMS than in the BMS.ConclusionThese results suggest that the TMS may be useful as a new reliable method for scoring locomotor function for SCI models.

HDAC3 inhibition ameliorates spinal cord injury by immunomodulation

“…Since microglia/macrophages can exert pro-repair functions 14 , we next assessed the impact of HDAC3 inhibition on functional recovery by behavioral assays in the contusion SCI model. RGFP966 was administered at 2, 24 and 48 hr after SCI, and locomotor recovery was measured daily using the Basso mouse scale (BMS) 26 and the Toyama mouse score (TMS) 27 . The 0–8 point BMS score provides a measure of hind limb locomotor recovery, with score 3 reflecting the threshold at which an animal can support its own body weight, and scores beyond 3 reflecting mainly improved stepping frequency and consistency.…”

“…TMS takes into consideration ankle movement, as well as movement of knees, thighs, and toes, which are not observed in the BMS. The TMS provides lower variation and higher sensitivity relative to the BMS 27 .…”

“…Fluorometric HDAC3 activity assay was performed using kits from Sigma (catalog #EP1013) and BPS Bioscience (catalog #50073). Following the contusion injury, motor function of each hindlimb was measured by Basso mouse scale score (BMS) (scale of 0–8 points) 26 and Toyama mouse score (TMS) (scale of 0–30 points) 42 every day in a blinded fashion. One mouse showed a BMS score of 3 at 1 day after the injury, and was thus excluded; while the rest of the mice all scored between 0–2 by BMS after the contusion injury.…”

HipOP mesenchymal population has high potential for repairing injured peripheral nerves

“…Open field locomotion is widely used for the evaluation of functional recovery after nerve injury because it is simple and requires no special equipment. The Basso Mouse Scale (BMS) is a popular evaluation system for testing the recovery of murine locomotor function following the experimental spinal cord injury operation, and some modified versions have also been developed by other researchers . However, these methods were basically developed to evaluate the functional recovery after the spinal cord injury operation, and some criteria were not suitable for a sciatic nerve injury model.…”

The Extract of Roots of Sophora flavescens Enhances the Recovery of Motor Function by Axonal Growth in Mice with a Spinal Cord Injury

“…S. flavescens extract (500 mg/kg/day) or a vehicle control was continually administered to SCI mice from 1 h after the injury for 31 days once a day. The hindlimb motor functions of SCI mice were evaluated using the Basso Mouse Scale (BMS; Basso et al, 2006 ), Body Support Scale (BSS; Teshigawara et al, 2013 ), and Toyama Mouse Score (TMS; Shigyo et al, 2014 ) in an open field (black color, 50.0 × 42.5 × 15.0 cm) under 500-lux illumination.…”