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Motor

 

Muscle & Cognition

 

Fields of expertise: Force measurements – Muscular contraction – Muscular fatigue – Sarcopenia – Atrophy – Skeletal muscle fibers

 

You are a pharmaceutical or food industrial

 

In the context of your new pharmacological molecule development or new food products:

  • You are searching for new food supplement, will it be efficient in order to gain strength or improve locomotion?
  • Will it lead to a better resistance to muscular fatigue?
  • Do you know any potential secondary effect of your molecule on the motor system?
  • Are your molecules efficient to improve motor and cognitive functions during sarcopenia?

 

 

 You are a researcher

 

You develop new animal models and/or various therapeutic approaches (cellular, genetic or pharmacological). 

 

  • Which consequences on motor function could have these new developments?
  • You need a functional characterization of your new animal models.


 Industry – research partnership

 

To validate your molecules or food supplements, why not test it on pathological models ? For example : Could a food supplement be more efficient in muscular disorder conditions ?

 

 

 

Muscle force measurements to cognitive function exploration

 

1 – In vivo and in vitro methods to investigate muscular system from the animal to skeletal muscle fibers

 

 

 

2 – Measurements of muscular force and gait analysis

 

 

 

3 – Complementary methods to explore motor and cognitive functions

 

 

Motor Methods

 

  • Grip test
  • Actimeter
  • Wire test
  • Rota-rod
  • Wire hang test
  • Treadmill
  • Gait analysis : Gait Lab
  • Beam test


 Anxiety – Depression – Olfaction Methods

 

  • Sucrose preference test
  • Open Field 3D
  • Hole – Board
  • Light-Dark Box
  • Elevated plus Maze
  • Olfaction memory test

  

 

 

Test 1 : Global motor function exploration and general behavior


Mice, rat (control, mdx, denervated, aged)

 

  • Grip test: Limb force measurement on living animal (2 and 4 limbs)
  • Actimeter: Locomotor activity measurements
  • Wire test: Endurance and muscle strength exploration
  • Rota-rod: Test of motor coordination
  • Wire hang test: Endurance and muscle strength exploration
  • Treadmill : Training, fatigue and endurance evaluation
  • Gait analysis system: Gait Lab is an automated quantitative gait analysis system for rodents, based on the CatWalk Method (validated on rats)
  • Beam test : Test of motor coordination

 

 

 

Test 2 : Muscle force measurements

 

  • Muscular contractile activity measurement on

anaesthetized animals

  • Perfused hind-limb muscles : total muscular force

of a limb

  • Perfused isolated muscles : extensor digitorum

longus (edl) muscle (fast twitch muscle) and soleus muscle (slow twitch muscle)

  • Twitch contraction : tension – voltage relationship

analysis

  • Tetanos contraction : tension – frequency

relationship analysis

  • Muscular fatigue and recovery


 

 

 

 

Test 3 : Contractile properties and calcium homeostasis

  • Muscular atrophy and hypertrophy
  • Contractile protein properties
  • Calcium sensitivity
  • Animals weight, posterior and anterior muscles weight
  • Tension measurement and calcium homeostasis
  • Intact fibers isolated from mice and rats muscles
  • Skinned fibers
  • Slow (soleus) or fast (edl) muscles and diaphragm
  • Twitch, tetanos, potassium and caffeine contractures
  • Pharmacological approach : drug assays

 

 

Test 4 : Anxiety – Depression – Olfaction Exploration

 

  • Sucrose preference test : Anhedonia evaluation
  • Open field 3D : Locomotion analysis, anxiety and spatial memory
  • Hole – Board : Curiosity measurements (anxiolytic and anxiogenic properties)
  • Elevated plus Maze : Anxiety evaluation
  • Light-Dark Box : Anxiety evaluation
  • Olfaction memory test : Olfactory memory