title: The splay angle: A new measure for assessing neuromuscular dysfunction in rats.
abstract: This report describes a new method, the splay angle measures, to determine neuromuscular dysfunction. Splay angles are measured from a standard splay test and define hind limb orientation quantified, in degrees, by the paw strike of the hind limbs. We used mutant rats, presenting with a chronic central nervous system demyelinating disease, characterized by tremor, ataxia, immobility, epilepsy, and paralysis (taiep). Significant differences between taiep (n = 12) and normal control rats (n = 10) were found for Linear Splay, AngleLeft, AngleRight, and AngleBoth. These results suggest that the splay angles are a sensitive measure of hind limb orientation and may reflect an underlying pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, St. Louis University, MO 63108, USA. ancham@slu.edu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Anch
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dyche
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bloom
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Richtert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012727:Sex Characteristics