Análise da reprodutibilidade do teste da escada horizontal para avaliação da adaptabilidade da marcha em murinos

Abstract

To understand the neurobiological mechanisms that may be involved in gait adaptability is important to develop future rehabilitation strategies for individuals with functional mobility disorders, whether due to neurological diseases or other aging-related conditions. The Ladder Rung Walking Test (LRWT) has been widely used to evaluate normal and pathological gait in murine models, as it allows detailed evaluation of the way the animal places the fore and hindlimbs by a specific score system. However, although it is used in the literature, such test has not yet been adequately validated for its reliability and intra and inter-rater reproducibility. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze the reproducibility of LRWT, seeking to elucidate its reliability levels. For the study, 40 videos of rodents from the laboratory database (20 videos of Wistar rats and 20 of C57BL / 6 mice, both adults) were used to perform the LRWT. Two independent raters assessed the videos, each video was blindly analyzed twice by the same rater, totalizing 80 analyzes per rater. The agreement scores was tested using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The results showed that raters I and II obtained excellent agreement for the rats in the combined total score (ICC = 0.961 / p = 0.0001), which also occurred for mice (ICC = 0.970 / P = 0, 0001). For the individual scores of the fore and hind limbs, good levels of agreement were achieved, ranging from “satisfactory” to “excellent” (ICC between 0.484 and 0.931). Cronbach's alpha showed excellent consistency for total combined score and the total fore and hind limb scores, with values above 0.8. Thus, we concluded that the LRWT has good intra and inter-rater reliability, being the 7-point foot fault score a reliable tool to determine gait adaptability levels in rats and mice. These findings encourage the use of the test as a low-cost, methodologically useful and valid tool for the study of gait adaptability in murine experimental models