Effects of Experimental Sarcocystis neurona-Induced Infection on Immunity in an Equine Model

Table 4

Neurologic scoring sheet for observations of clinical parameters (total possible 97).

Category	Action	Description	Number	Description 2
Eating	Drops feed	<1/4 lb	1	(max = 3)
		≥1/4 lb ≤ 1/2 lb	2
		>1/2 lb	3
	Tongue tone decreased	Normal mastication	1	(max = 3)
		Abnormal mastication	2
		Paresis	3
	Abnormal feed prehension	Normal	0	(max = 2)
		Unable to masticate	1
		Bites food	2
Head	Drooling	Does not drool	0	(max = 2)
		When eating	1
		Continuously	2
	Lip paresis	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Perceptible when eating	1
		Perceptible continuously	2
		Lip hangs	3
	Facial nerve paresis	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Perceptible	1
		Moderate	2
		Severe	3
	Eyelid paresis	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Ventrally away from eye	1
		Over of eye	2
		With corneal lesion	3
	Attitude	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Depressed	1
		Aggressive	2
		Somnolent	3
Muscle	Muscle atrophy	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Just perceptible	1
		Immediately noticeable	2
		Severe atrophy	3
Rear end	Cauda equina	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Holds tail rigid	1
		Dribbling urine	2
		Rectum paretic	3
Movement	Weakness	Normal	0	Left fore (LF),; right fore (RF),; left hind (LH),; right hind (RH); (max = 12)
		While walking	1
		Markedly reduced strength	2
		Can pull horse over easily/recumbent	3
	Lameness	None seen	0	(max = 3)
		Just noticed at walk	1
		Head bob or hip drop at walk	2
		Reluctant to use limb	3
Conscious proprioception	Crossing over limbs	Normal	0	LF, RF, LH, RH; (max = 12)
		Slightly slow to place limb	1
		back to normal position
		No resistance to abnormal placement of limb	2
		Horse unaware of limb position and unable to correctly place limb	3
	Abduction of hind limbs	Normal	0	LH, RH (max = 6)
		Slightly slow to place limb back to normal position	1
		No resistance to abnormal placement of limb	2
		Horse unaware of limb position and unable to correctly place limb	3
	Tripping	None seen	0	(max = 3)
		Sometimes	1
		Often	2
		Often and falls to knees	3
Limbs	Paresis	Normal	0	(max = 3)
		Detectable at normal gaits but exacerbated by manipulative actions	1
		Obvious at normal gaits or postures	2
		Very prominent at normal gait	3
	Circling	Normal	0	Counterclockwise, clockwise (max = 6)
		Occasional abnormal limb placement	1
		Does not move normally in circle	2
		Refuses to circle/falls	3
	Pivoting	No pivoting seen	0	Counterclockwise, clockwise (max = 6)
		Pivots occasionally on inside hind limb	1
		Pivots frequently	2
		Will not pick up hind leg-pivots continuously	3
	Toe dragging	No toe dragging seen	0	Left, Right (max = 6)
		Occasionally drags a hind limb	1
		Frequently drags hind limb	2
		Constantly drags hind limbs	3
Backing up	Hypermetria	Normal movement	0	(max = 3)
		Slightly hypermetric in one limb	1
		Moderately hypermetric in one limb/slight hypermetria in both hind limbs	2
		Very obvious hypermetria	3
	Inconsistent placement	Normal placement	0	(max = 3)
		Slightly wide based on placement of hind limbs	1
		Wide based on hind limb placement	2
		Places limbs very abnormally (touching, very wide), almost falls	3
Tail pull	At the walk	Normal	0	Left, Right (max = 6)
		Slight lack of resistance to tail pull	1
		Easily pull horse off track	2
		Horse almost falls when tail pulled	3
Maximum total possible				97

Horses were examined biweekly and scored based on a variety of different parameters, listed above. For most categories, a score of zero represented a normal response to evaluation of this parameter, and a score of three was the maximum neurologic score possible. The scoring system was based on that used in previous experiments by investigators using the intravenous method of infection.