Kinematic gait analyses identified movement deficits before the onset of clinical signs in mice subjected to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).
Gait deficits were observed in mice with mild EAE that failed to show clinical disease signs or altered rotarod performance.
Impaired movement of the ankle correlated near perfectly with the degree of white matter loss detected in the spinal cord (r = 0.96).
Kinematic gait analyses should assist the selection of promising therapeutic candidates for clinical testing.