title: Longitudinal ambulatory measurements of gait abnormality in dystrophin-deficient dogs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to measure the gait abnormalities in GRMD (Golden retriever muscular dystrophy) dogs during growth and disease progression using an ambulatory gait analyzer (3D-accelerometers) as a possible tool to assess the effects of a therapeutic intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six healthy and twelve GRMD dogs were evaluated twice monthly, from the age of two to nine months. The evolution of each gait variable previously shown to be modified in control and dystrophin-deficient adults was assessed using two-ways variance analysis (age, clinical status) with repeated measurements. A principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to perfect multivariate data interpretation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Speed, stride length, total power and force significantly already decreased (p<0.01) at the age of 2 months. The other gait variables (stride frequency, relative power distributions along the three axes) became modified at later stages. Using the PCA analysis, a global gait index taking into account the main gait variables was calculated, and was also consistent to detect the early changes in the GRMD gait patterns, as well as the progressive degradation of gait quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The gait variables measured by the accelerometers were sensitive to early detect and follow the gait disorders and mirrored the heterogeneity of clinical presentations, giving sense to monitor gait in GRMD dogs during progression of the disease and pre-clinical therapeutic trials.
authors.affiliation: UPR de Neurobiologie, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94704 Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: Inès
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barthélémy
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrey
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aguilar
authors.forename: Ane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uriarte
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Chevoir
authors.forename: Jean-Laurent
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Thibaud
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Voit
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blot
authors.forename: Jean-Yves
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hogrel
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy / Q000295:instrumentation; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D018450:Disease Progression; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004285:Dogs; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D005684:Gait / Q000235:genetics; D007794:Lameness, Animal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009137:Muscular Dystrophy, Animal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis
chemical_list: D016189:Dystrophin