title: A sensitive gait parameter for quantification of arthritis in rats.
abstract: Quantification of arthritis is helpful for investigating pain mechanisms of arthritis and for developing new drugs. We assessed and identified a feasible parameter for quantification of rat arthritis using a novel gait analyzing system. Knee-joint injection with small doses of lambda-carrageenan decreased swing time ratio (STR, swing time of the non-treated hindlimb/swing time of the lambda-carrageenan-injected hindlimb) in a dose-dependent manner. Intraperitoneal treatment with indomethacin restored the decreased STR dose-dependently. The arthritis could not be accurately quantified by swing time and swelling, common indices of arthritis. These results show that STR is a sensitive, reliable parameter for quantification of arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pharmacology, Azabu University School of Veterinary Medicine, Kanagawa 229-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Orito
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurozumi
authors.forename: Idaku
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Akane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001168:Arthritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D005684:Gait; D007213:Indomethacin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D007213:Indomethacin