Wageningen, 21 November 2006 - After a long period of development and intensive validation testing, Noldus is pleased to announce the release of CatWalk: an unique automated gait analysis system. Due to its wide range of parameters, CatWalk can be applied to any study dealing with (disturbances in) locomotion. Applications can be found in the fields of spinal cord injuries, muscular diseases, neuropathic pain, and many others.

CatWalk is a video-based system for the acquirement and analysis of data concerning gait in rodents. Data acquisition starts with the rodent traversing over the walkway, the most important hardware part of the integrated system. Meanwhile, light enters the walkway’s glass floor and is internally reflected, except for those places where the animal’s body makes contact with the floor. At those places, light escapes, each contact point resulting in a separated illuminated area. A video camera that is positioned underneath the glass floor captures the illuminated areas and sends the video image to a computer running the CatWalk software. After the user has interactively assigned labels to the illuminated areas, the software automatically starts analyzing the gathered data. The width and length of individual footprints, distance between two successive placements of a paw (stride length), and pressure exerted on the floor are only two examples of the parameters that can be calculated. Besides these static gait parameters, CatWalk perfectly calculates a wide range of time-related parameters, such as the swing and stance duration and swing speed.

Summarizing, with its high number of parameters, integrated composition, and high level of automation, CatWalk offers an objective alternative to conventional gait analysis methods, such as the BBB scoring test or footprint analysis by means of inking the paws. For more information, please visit the CatWalk section of this web site, or fill out our request information form.