Name: measuring progressive neurological disability in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis
Uploaded: 2016-11-14T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Progressive Neurological Disability in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis at JoVE.com

The authors thank the staff of the Center for Comparative Medicine and Research (CCMR) at Dartmouth for their expert care of the mice used for these studies. The authors also acknowledge Emily Clough for her excellent administrative support.

All animal work utilizes protocols reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
1. The Mouse Model
<ol>
	<li>Induction of TMEV-Induced Demyelinating Disease
	<ol>
		<li>Move the cages containing 4- to 6-week-old female SJL/JHan mice from the rack to a comfortable working space. Mark the mice (e.g., with an ear tag or ear punch) to allow for individual evaluation of clinical and histologic...

<ol>
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L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Pharmacologic+and+behavioral+responses+of+inbred+C57BL/6J+and+strain+129/SvJ+mouse+lines.">Pharmacologic and behavioral responses of inbred C57BL/6J and strain 129/SvJ mouse lines.</a> Pharmacol Biochem Be. 63, 21-26 (1999).</li><li>Balkaya, M., Krober, J. M., Rex, A., Endres, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Assessing+post-stroke+behavior+in+mouse+models+of+focal+ischemia.">Assessing post-stroke behavior in mouse models of focal ischemia.</a> J Cerebr Blood F Met. 33, 330-338 (2013).</li><li>. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> Columbus Instruments Rotamex-5 Manual. , 1-33 (2005).</li><li>Dunham, N. W., Miya, T. 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Despite some limitations, the Rotarod performance test represents an important tool for assessing motor function and dysfunction in TMEV-IDD as well as the effect of pharmacological interventions on disability progression in mice.
The Rotarod test was first described in 1957 as a tool for measuring neurological deficits in rodents11. Rodents have to walk on a rotating rod, with increasing rotating speed, and try to avoid falling to the ground. The latency to fall is recorded and use...

Theiler&#39;s Murine Encephalomyelitis Virus (TMEV) is a neurotropic single-stranded RNA virus that persistently infects the murine central nervous system (CNS). In susceptible mice, infection with TMEV causes an immune-mediated, chronic-progressive demyelinating disease, known as TMEV-induced demyelinating disease (TMEV-IDD). Experimental infection of mice takes a disease course resembling that seen in progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). TMEV-IDD is characterized by two distinct phases: the acute phase and the chronic phase. The acute phase is a mild, usually subclinical encephalitis1,2. The second, chronic phase, beginning about a month after infection, consists of a slowly progressing disability characterized by demyelination, inflammation, and axonal damage1,2. The weakness observed in mice is associated with spasticity and, occasionally, severe tonic spasms.
Because there are currently no medications to ameliorate the progressive disability in patients, researchers are particularly attracted by TMEV-IDD, which represents an optimal animal model for monitoring the impact of disease-modifying drugs on disease progression. However, in mice as well as in MS patients, the monitoring of disability progression requires a continuous clinical observation over extended periods of time. In mice, long-term monitoring for disability progression can be accomplished with the Rotarod performance test.
The Rotarod performance test is a standard behavioral test that evaluates motor-associated functions such as coordination, balance, and fatigue in rodents. The mice have to keep their balance on a turning rod, which is rotating under continuous acceleration; the time latency to fall from this rod is recorded. Animals with neurological dysfunction are unable to stay on the rotating rod as long as controls, and they normally drop off when the rotation speed exceeds their motor capacity. The more neurological impairment the animals have, the sooner they fall off the rod, and the shorter the time latency is.
The advantage of the Rotarod test over the traditional visual scoring systems is that it generates an objective, measurable variable-the time latency-which can ultimately be used for statistical analyses to quantify the effects of therapies and experimental procedures3.
In the Laboratory of Neuroimmunology (LONI) at Dartmouth, mice are subjected to an adaptation protocol, where they are tested prior to TMEV infection in order to familiarize them with the machine and to assess their normal &#34;baseline&#34; balance coordination and motor control4,5. Once the baseline is established and the mice are infected with TMEV, they are tested once or twice a week over a period of several months. The actual testing protocol lasts an average of 150 days, thus allowing an assessment of the decline of balance, coordination, and motor control over the entire course of the demyelinating disease.
Several hundred TMEV-IDD and sham-treated mice have been tested so far for neurological dysfunction at Dartmouth. These mice had received various immunomodulatory treatments, but no pharmacological agent has been found to be effective in ameliorating disability progression6,7. The present article and the related protocol describe how to characterize the progressive neurological impairment displayed by TMEV-IDD mice. Particularly, the protocol offers recommendations of specific testing parameters believed to be generally suitable for studying neurological disability in TMEV-IDD mice using the Rotarod test. This procedure provides a baseline against which to assess (1) the relevance of this mouse model to progressive MS and (2) its usefulness for testing therapies aimed at treating progressive neurological conditions such as MS. Clearly, the Rotarod performance test and the current optimized testing parameters and protocol are not only useful at detecting progressive neurological disability in the TMEV-IDD mouse model, but are also useful in uncovering impairments in other virus-induced and/or genetic mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases.

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measuring progressive neurological disability in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

After intracerebral infection with the Theiler's Murine Encephalomyelitis Virus (TMEV), susceptible SJL mice develop a chronic-progressive demyelinating disease, with clinical features similar to the progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). The mice show progressive disability with loss of motor and sensory functions, which can be assessed with multiple apparatuses and protocols. Among them, the Rotarod performance test is a very common behavioral test, its advantage being that it provides objective measurements, but it is often used assuming that it is straightforward and simple. In contrast to visual scoring systems used in some models of MS, which are highly subjective, the Rotarod test generates an objective, measurable, continuous variable (i.e., length of time), allowing almost perfect inter-rater concordances. However, inter-laboratory reliability is only achieved if the various testing parameters are replicated. In this manuscript, recommendations of specific testing parameters, such as size, speed, and acceleration of the rod; amount of training given to the animals; and data processing, are presented for the Rotarod test.

The aim of this representative experiment was to compare the neurological disability induced by the Daniels (DA) strain and BeAn strain of TMEV. For the purposes of the present study, a group of 32 female SJL mice were infected intracranially with TMEV, either the DA strain (n = 16) or the BeAn strain (n = 16), and their clinical signs were monitored over time. An additional group of 20 mice was sham treated (i.e., saline solution was injected intracranially) and served as health...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Progressive Neurological Disability in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis at JoVE.com

Measuring Progressive Neurological Disability in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

An optimized testing protocol is presented in this paper for the Rotarod performance test, used for measuring progressive neurological disability in TMEV-infected mice.

After intracerebral infection with the Theiler's Murine Encephalomyelitis Virus (TMEV), susceptible SJL mice develop a chronic-progressive demyelinating ...

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