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Age‐related alterations in gait function in freely moving male C57BL/6 mice: translational relevance of decreased cadence and increased gait variability
Author(s) -
Tarantini Stefano,
Yabluchanskiy Andriy,
Fulop Gabor Aaron,
Kiss Tamas,
Perz Aleksandra,
O'Connor Daniel,
Johnson Emily,
Sorond Farzaneh,
Ungvari Zoltan,
Csiszar Anna
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.518.7
Subject(s) - cadence , gait , physical medicine and rehabilitation , stride , balance (ability) , medicine , population , psychology , environmental health
Age‐related gait dysfunction and balance disorders are a major cause of falls and injury in the elderly population. Epidemiological studies have shown that disturbances in gait coordination which manifest with age are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, impaired cognitive capacity, as well as reduced level of function and loss of independence. In geroscience mice are the most frequently used model system to test efficiency of anti‐aging interventions. Despite the clinical importance of age‐related gait abnormalities in older adults, the impact of aging on mouse gait coordination is not well documented in the literature. To characterize the effect of aging on mouse gait, we assessed gait function in young (3 month old) and aged (24 month old) freely moving C57BL/6 mice using the semi‐automated, highly sensitive, Catwalk XT system for quantitative assessment of footfall and motor performance. We found that aged mice exhibited significantly decreased cadence and increased stride time variability. Aging also tended to alter footfall patterns. In aged mice speed, swing speed, stride length, duty cycle, base of support, terminal dual stance, the regularity index and the gait symmetry index were unaltered. Thus, aging is associated with characteristic alterations in gait function in C57BL/6 mice, which could potentially be assessed as clinically relevant endpoints in geroscience studies testing the effects of anti‐aging interventions. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .