The new CatWalk XT 10 available for the detailed assessment of gait and footfalls in rodents

July 3, 2012 - PRLog -- The new CatWalk XT 10 – Gait analysis made easy!
CatWalk™ XT is an easy–to-use and highly sensitive tool for the detailed assessment of gait and footfalls in rodents.

Wageningen, The Netherlands, 1 July 2012 - In the last couple of years, Noldus Information Technology has been gradually making each part of the CatWalk XT workflow more efficient. A great example is the goal box that was introduced last year. Together with the latest developments it has made CatWalk XT 10 the easiest and quickest gait analysis system on the market for assessing gait related changes in rats and mice.

Why use CatWalk XT?
CatWalk XT delivers objective data. It allows for the quantification of footprints and gait in unforced movement of animals, thus giving you the most realistic picture of the gait abilities of your rodent model under investigation. Furthermore, the software assists you in all phases of the experiment, from setting up the experiment to acquisition, to the final analysis and graphical representation of the acquired data. In short, it allows you to analyze gait related changes in the greatest number of animals in the least amount of time.

Recent software developments
New in the CatWalk XT software is the new analysis possibility - view parameter charts. This will save you time considering you do no longer need to export your data and make it suitable for your favorite statistical program. It will only take a few mouse clicks to produce charts of every parameter you selected. This way it becomes very easy to see how selected parameters are behaving over time or between treatment groups.

The Sciatic Functional index was already introduced before, and is commonly used as a tool for the evaluation of the functional recovery of sciatic nerve injury. By popular demand we have added two extra indices to this module, allowing for the calculation of:
   The Tibial Functional Index (TFI), used in the study of tibial nerve injury recovery.
   The Peroneal Functional Index (PFI), used in the study of peroneal nerve (also called fibular nerve) injury recovery.  

Redesigned hardware
The corridor-redesign consists of a wider opening of the corridor for easier placement of animals, stiffer corridor walls, and an extra diffusion plate between the red LED’s of the top-unit. This extra diffusion plate makes sure the complete runway is more evenly illuminated from above. Additionally, a spring-operated lifting mechanism allows the entire corridor to be lifted upwards with only two fingers. This all results in quicker and easier access to the glass plate for cleaning and/or removal of the mouse or rat.

About Noldus
Noldus Information Technology is a leading developer of software and integrated solutions for animal and human behavior research. What started out as a one- man company, has grown into a worldwide network of offices and distributors, with over 5000 satisfied customers. Noldus develops products in close collaboration with scientists, for application areas such as neuroscience, zoology, and entomology. Their solutions are designed to enhance the quality and quantity of data and to make optimal use of human and animal resources. They also offer trainings and services to go with all their products and solutions. Noldus keeps a close eye on developments in the scientific community and contributes to these developments by participating in many international research projects each year. All so that they can create products that meet tomorrow’s research needs today.

Contact information
Please contact Sandra Thoomes, PR officer, for more information.