A step beyond: age and sex-dependent changes in multidimensional locomotor and gait patterns of voluntary motion of C57BL/6 mice

Automated analysis of spontaneous open-field movement in C57BL/6 mice shows age-related separation of movement phenotypes, with hindlimb duty factor and stride length increasing from 4.5 to 22 months.

• Why it matters: Single-endpoint rodent activity tests can be invasive or stress-inducing, and they may miss functional gait and posture changes linked to frailty and reduced intrinsic capacity.
• What they did: Male and female C57BL/6 mice were recorded for 7 minutes in an open field, analyzed with Palmreader on the BlackBox One system, and compared across 4.5-, 7-, and 22-month ages using principal component analysis and individual gait parameters.
• The result: Aging is linked to forelimb-to-hindlimb duty-factor imbalance, paw contact, and postural organization changes, with several gait alterations differing by sex, while conventional activity metrics showed few age effects, especially in females.