Changes in Gait Following Induction of Parkinsonism in an Animal Model
Partner: Krista Brackman
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder thought to be the result of the depletion of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Cardinal symptoms of PD include tremor, postural imbalance, gait dysfunction and rigidity of the limbs and current therapies for PD can fail to alleviate gait dysfunction. This experiment aims to validate a novel testing apparatus for freely-moving subjects in an MPTP model of PD. The testing apparatus consists of two plexiglass boxes joined by a tunnel containing a pressure walkway system (Tekscan, Inc) that serves to evaluate spatial-temporal characteristics of gait. The pressure walkway semi-automatically quantifies typical gait variables such as stride time, stance time, swing time, and the number of steps. Results were obtained for three different conditions: naive, mild PD, and moderate PD. Analysis of the results suggests many significant changes occurred between the three conditions. Stride length and time, which are commonly used as gait metrics in human PD clinical trials, significantly changed as the subject progressed from naive, to mild PD, and finally to moderate PD conditions. Similar trends were also identified in stance and swing variables. This study confirms the validity of using a freely-moving subject in our testing apparatus to study gait in this animal model of PD. This is an important step in our goal of better understanding the neurophysiological underpinnings of parkinsonian gait dysfunction and the effects of deep brain stimulation.