RESEARCH ARTICLE Planar Covariation of Hindlimb and Forelimb Elevation Angles during Terrestrial and Aquatic Locomotion of Dogs Giovanna Catavitello1,2*, Yuri P. Ivanenko2, Francesco Lacquaniti1,2,3 1 Centre of Space Bio-medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133, Rome, Italy, 2 Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology, Santa Lucia Foundation, 00179, Rome, Italy, 3 Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133, Rome, Italy *
[email protected] Abstract The rich repertoire of locomotor behaviors in quadrupedal animals requires flexible inter- limb and inter-segmental coordination. Here we studied the kinematic coordination of differ- OPEN ACCESS ent gaits (walk, trot, gallop, and swim) of six dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and, in particular, Citation: Catavitello G, Ivanenko YP, Lacquaniti F the planar covariation of limb segment elevation angles. The results showed significant vari- (2015) Planar Covariation of Hindlimb and Forelimb ations in the relative duration of rearward limb movement, amplitude of angular motion, and Elevation Angles during Terrestrial and Aquatic Locomotion of Dogs. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0133936. inter-limb coordination, with gait patterns ranging from a lateral sequence of footfalls during doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133936 walking to a diagonal sequence in swimming. Despite these differences, the planar law of Editor: Juliane Kaminski, University of Portsmouth, inter-segmental coordination was maintained across different gaits in both forelimbs and UNITED KINGDOM hindlimbs. Notably, phase relationships and orientation of the covariation plane were highly Received: April 1, 2015 limb specific, consistent with the functional differences in their neural control. Factor analy- sis of published muscle activity data also demonstrated differences in the characteristic Accepted: July 2, 2015 timing of basic activation patterns of the forelimbs and hindlimbs.