Enduring Poststroke Motor Functional Improvements by a Well-Timed Combination of Motor Rehabilitative Training and Cortical Stimulation in Rats.

Background: In animal stroke models, peri-infarct cortical stimulation (CS) combined with rehabilitative reach training (RT) enhances motor functional outcome and cortical reorganization, compared with RT alone. It was unknown whether the effects of CS + RT (a) persist long after treatment, (b) can be enhanced by forcing greater use of the paretic limb, and (C) vary with treatment onset time.

Objective: To test the endurance, time sensitivity, and the potential for augmentation by forced forelimb use of CS + RT treatment effects following ischemic stroke.

Breeder and batch-dependent variability in the acquisition and performance of a motor skill in adult Long-Evans rats.

Reaching tasks are popular tools for investigating the neural mechanisms of motor skill learning and recovery from brain damage in rodents, but there is considerable unexplained variability across studies using these tasks. We investigated whether breeder, batch effects, experimenter, time of year, weight and other factors contribute to differences in the acquisition and performance of a skilled reaching task, the single pellet retrieval task, in adult male Long-Evans hooded rats. First, we retrospectively analyzed task acquisition and performance in rats from different breeding colonies that were used in several studies spanning a 3 year period in our laboratory.

Remodeling the brain with behavioral experience after stroke.

Background And Purpose: Behavioral experience can drive brain plasticity, but we lack sufficient knowledge to optimize its therapeutic use after stroke.

Methods: We outline recent findings from rodent models of cortical stroke of how experiences interact with postinjury events to influence synaptic connectivity and functional outcome. We focus on upper extremity function.