Fig. 1

Tail suspension test shows focal dystonia-like movements in wt and Tor1+/- mice that is induced by sciatic nerve crush. a, b Images of a Tor1a+/- mouse 2 days and 2 weeks after sciatic nerve crush of the right hind leg. Typical defect is shown when muscles of the affected leg are still profoundly weak. Therefore, the degree of dystonia-like postures (b) may be even underrated at this early timepoint of 2 weeks. c Temporal evolution of abnormal movements on the DMLS of the right hind leg measured during tail suspension in crush-injured Tor1a+/- mice (grey line; n = 33) and wt mice (black line; n = 30) as well as sham operated Tor1a+/- (dotted grey line; n = 8) and wt mice (dotted black line; n = 8) during an observation time of 8 weeks. Mean values for each time point ± SEM are shown. d Gait analysis displaying the step sequence regularity index (percentage) as measurement of the interpaw-coordination during ambulation in crush-injured Tor1a+/- (grey line; n = 30) and wt mice (black line; n = 23) as well as sham operated Tor1a+/- (dotted grey line; n = 8) and wt mice (dotted black line n = 8)(mean ± SEM). Before sciatic nerve injury a normal step sequence regularity index in both genotypes was observed, reflecting a normal interpaw-coordination during ambulation. One week after trauma the regularity index decreased in all groups with greater impairment in crush injured than in sham operated mice. While sham operated wt or Tor1a+/- mice as well as crush injured wt mice recovered with time, the Tor1a+/- crush group did not, leading to a significant reduction of step sequence regularity index at week 6 an 8 (p < 0.05; p < 0.01 respectively) compared to crush injured wt mice. e Diagram showing results of the rotarod performance test (grey line, Tor1a+/- crush n = 23; black line, wt crush n = 19; dotted grey line, Tor1a+/- sham n = 8, dotted black line, wt sham n = 8)(mean ± SEM). The motor impairment of Tor1a+/- mice after recovering from the nerve crush was subtle during spontaneous motor behavior and did not manifest in a rotarod analysis. * and ** denote significant differences (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively) comparing nerve injured Tor1a+/- and wt mice for one time point (non-parametric two-tailed Mann-Whitney test). § demonstrates a significant difference after Bonferroni-Holm correction of the p-values for the whole time span of 8 weeks