{"doi":"10.1002/jcsm.13300","title":"Optimization and construct validity of approaches to preclinical grip strength testing","abstract":"Grip strength is a robust biomarker showing good reliability1, 2 and prediction of negative health outcomes.3, 4 Low grip strength is associated with disability and premature death5-9 and is more strongly associated with frailty than chronological age.10 Accordingly, recent updates to consensus definitions of sarcopenia focus on low grip strength as the primary characteristic as opposed to low muscle mass.11, 12 Because rodent models are indispensable tools in aging research, scientists have reverse-translated grip testing as a key outcome in the context of sarcopenia.13-16 Serendipitous development of preclinical grip testing has resulted in a variety of protocols that have not been extensively examined and compared.13-15, 17 Variability, due to motivation, temperament, and other factors such as pain, is inherent in preclinical behavioural assessments.18 Limited research has focused on standardizing preclinical grip testing, validation of methods against other functional measures, and investigating how preclinical grip data compare to data from humans and whether these tests even measure the same construct. Additionally, prior work has not examined between-day reliability of grip testing in rodents. This work was undertaken to inform rigorous preclinical grip testing. Studies (approved by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center) included two age groups of C57BL/6 mice (50% female) (n = 10, 6 months, n = 10, 24 months, equivalent to 70 human years, roughly equal to the age of our older adult data19) maintained on a 12-h light–dark cycle with free access to food and water. A single rater performed grip strength (reported in grams, g) at 8–10 am in the following order: all limb, bilateral forelimb, bilateral hindlimb, left unilateral hindlimb, and right unilateral hindlimb (BIO-GS3, Bioseb, Vitrolles, France) (Figure 1). For bilateral forelimb, bilateral hindlimb, and unilateral hindlimb tests, mice were scruffed while maintaining limb range of motion. For bilateral forelimb, bilateral hindlimb, left hindlimb, and right hindlimb tests, mice were held perpendicular to the vector of the force transducer and allowed to grip the attachment and then pulled straight back away from the bar (parallel with the floor), using a consistent speed and force by the experimenter across all trials and replicates. Three trials were averaged and used for analyses. A week later, grip testing was repeated by the same rater, blinded to prior results. Peak plantarflexion muscle contractility torque of the right hindlimb was assessed following stimulation trains at 5, 30, 45, 75, 90, 125, and 150 Hz for 1 s, with 60 s of rest between trains to avoid fatigue, as previously described20 (1300A, Aurora Scientific, Aurora, ON, Canada). Mice were euthanized with carbon dioxide inhalation and cervical dislocation. Bilateral gastrocnemius and soleus wet muscle mass were assessed and averaged; the plantaris was included in the gastrocnemius (labelled ‘gastrocnemius’ for simplicity). Grip strength (3 trials, bilaterally; 4 trials if trials differed by >3 kg) and bilateral hand and forearm lean mass data (via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, DXA) obtained in the UNCODE Study conducted at Ohio University (which reviewed and approved the human subjects testing protocol; NCT02505529) were analysed. Peak grip strength and lean mass for the bilateral upper limbs were averaged. Procedures and inclusion and exclusion criteria were previously described.21-23 Analyses was performed using Graph Pad Prism (GraphPad Software Inc., La Jolla, CA, USA), Excel (Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA, USA), and SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk NY, USA). P < 0.05 was considered significant. All limb grip showed modest reliability with the lowest CV [ICC 0.45 (0.02, 0.74) and CV: 8.6%], and left hindlimb showed the poorest reliability [ICC: 0.10 (95% CI: −0.35, 0.51) and CV: 21.5%]. Otherwise, modest values for ICC and CV were noted for right hindlimb [ICC: 0.41 (−0.03, 0.71) and CV: 14.1%], ","journal":"Journal of Cachexia Sarcopenia and Muscle","year":2023,"id":334753,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":21,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9575,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1064166,"name":"Alissa Ray","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":713257,"name":"Prameela Jyothi Bobbili","orcid":"0000-0001-7493-2001","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":487444,"name":"Leatha A. Clark","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":459046,"name":"Cory W. Baumann","orcid":"0000-0002-2457-1911","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":109424,"name":"Brian C. Clark","orcid":"0000-0002-6021-6431","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":575059,"name":"W. David Arnold","orcid":"0000-0001-9889-7036","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1063610,"name":"Gregory Owendoff","orcid":"0000-0003-4213-0367","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":29,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:09:53.742667Z","pmid":"37574215","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}