Clinical NeuroscienceThe IBB Forelimb Scale as a tool to assess functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury in mice

- IBB is a tool that assesses and categorizes specific functional impairments in forelimb.
- This scale shows how the animal performs the movement.
- Can be used to evaluate forelimb function after peripheral nerve injury in mice.
- These findings might be important for testing rehabilitation programs.

BackgroundThis study was conducted to test whether the IBB Forelimb Scale (Irvine et al., 2010) which was originally developed for rats with spinal cord injury, is also capable of measuring the functional performance of Swiss mice with lesions of the median and ulnar nerves inflicted via crushing with standardized strength.New methodThis test was performed at days 1, 3, 7, 10, 14 and 21 after surgery and each animal gives a score of 9, where 0 represented the worst functionality and 9 represented the habitual behavior.ResultsThe control animals usually exhibited movements in the task that were scored as 9 during the experimental period. The lesion group began with a score of 2 on the 1st and 3rd post-operative days. On the 7th and 10th postoperative days, respectively, they scored 7, and on the 14th post-operative day, they achieved a score of 8. Only on the 21st post-operative day, did they exhibit habitual skillful behaviors.Comparison with existing method(s)IBB Forelimb Scale is effective for determining how the animals perform the movements in detail, which is not readily revealed by other methods. Furthermore, this test show similar recovery periods with grasping test, staircase test and seems to be more sensitive than paw print analysis for this type of lesion.ConclusionsOur data demonstrate that IBB scale was capable of measuring gradual improvements in motor forelimb functions in this model and may be a new and effective assessment tool for peripheral nerve injury.