title: Refined clinical scoring in comparative EAE studies does not enhance the chance to observe statistically significant differences.
abstract: Considering the 3R rules of animal experimentation, we asked if refined scoring of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice improves documentation of clinical EAE allowing to perform a more powerful statistical analysis. Surprisingly, refined EAE scoring failed to improve statistical outcome comparing the overall disease courses between two groups of mice.
authors.affiliation: Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Silvia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tietz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwahlen
authors.affiliation: Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Haghayegh Jahromi
authors.affiliation: Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baden
authors.affiliation: Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lazarevic
authors.affiliation: Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gaby
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Enzmann
authors.affiliation: Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. bengel@tki.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015588:Observer Variation; D012107:Research Design; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Area under the curve; Bland-Altman plots; Clinical scoring; Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; Statistical analysis