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Clinical Trial
. 2020 Feb:84:147-153.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.11.019. Epub 2019 Nov 27.

Biological motion during inflammation in humans

J Lasselin  1 , T Sundelin  2 , P M Wayne  3 , M J Olsson  4 , S Paues Göranson  5 , J Axelsson  6 , M Lekander  6
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Biological motion during inflammation in humans

J Lasselin et al. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Feb.

Abstract

Biological motion is a powerful perceptual cue that can reveal important information about the inner state of an individual. Activation of inflammatory processes likely leads to changes in gait, posture, and mobility patterns, but the specific characteristics of inflammation-related biological motion have not been characterized. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of inflammation on gait and motion in humans. Systemic inflammation was induced in 19 healthy volunteers with an intravenous injection of lipopolysaccharide (2 ng/kg body weight). Biological motion parameters (walking speed, stride length and time, arm, leg, head, and shoulder angles) were assessed during a walking paradigm and the timed-up-and-go test. Cytokine concentrations, body temperature, and sickness symptoms were measured. During inflammation, compared to placebo, participants exhibited shorter, slower, and wider strides, less arm extension, less knee flexion, and a more downward-tilting head while walking. They were also slower and took a shorter first step in the timed-up-and-go test. Higher interleukin-6 concentrations, stronger sickness symptoms, and lower body temperature predicted the inflammation-related alterations in biological motion. These findings show that biological motion contains clear information about the inflammatory status of an individual, and may be used by peers or artificial intelligence to recognize that someone is sick or contagious.

Keywords: Biological motion; Body temperature; Gait; Inflammation; Kinect; Sickness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.. The Kinect® skeleton.
The dots represent the 20 joints tracked by the Kinect®. The numbers represent some of the calculated outcomes (see Table S1 for description).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.. Effect of LPS versus placebo administration on gait outcomes.
Outcomes (average ± SEM and individual data) in the walking paradigm (a) and in the mobility TUG test (b). n = 19. n.s. p>.05, ** p< 01, *** p<001 LPS versus placebo administration (see Table 1 for detailed statistics). Abbreviations: LPS: lipopolysaccharide; TUG: Time-up-and-go.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.. Predictors of LPS-induced motion alteration.
Sickness symptoms (1.5h after LPS injection), IL-6 concentrations (area under the curve from 1h to 2h after the LPS injection), body temperature (2h after LPS injection) and back pain (2h after LPS injection) were included in the best-fitted model explaining 60% (p = .013) of the variance in the LPS-induced motion alteration factor. Abbreviations: LPS: lipopolysaccharide; IL-6: interleukin-6.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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