Spared Premotor Areas Undergo Rapid Nonlinear Changes in Functional Organization Following a Focal Ischemic Infarct in Primary Motor Cortex of Squirrel Monkeys.

Recovery of motor function after stroke is accompanied by reorganization of movement representations in spared cortical motor regions. It is widely assumed that map reorganization parallels recovery, suggesting a causal relationship. We examined this assumption by measuring changes in motor representations in eight male and six female squirrel monkeys in the first few weeks after injury, a time when motor recovery is most rapid.

Effects of Subdural Monopolar Cortical Stimulation Paired With Rehabilitative Training on Behavioral and Neurophysiological Recovery After Cortical Ischemic Stroke in Adult Squirrel Monkeys.

Background: Cortical stimulation (CS) combined with rehabilitative training (RT) has proven effective for enhancing poststroke functional recovery in rats, but human clinical trials have had mixed outcomes.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of CS/RT versus RT in a nonhuman primate model of cortical ischemic stroke.

Methods: Squirrel monkeys learned a pellet retrieval task, then received an infarct to the distal forelimb (DFL) representation of primary motor cortex.

Effects of postinfarct myelin-associated glycoprotein antibody treatment on motor recovery and motor map plasticity in squirrel monkeys.

Background And Purpose: New insights into the brain's ability to reorganize after injury are beginning to suggest novel restorative therapy targets. Potential therapies include pharmacological agents designed to promote axonal growth. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of one such drug, GSK249320, a monoclonal antibody that blocks the axon outgrowth inhibition molecule, myelin-associated glycoprotein, to facilitate recovery of motor skills in a nonhuman primate model of ischemic cortical damage.

Neuronal HIF-1 alpha protein and VEGFR-2 immunoreactivity in functionally related motor areas following a focal M1 infarct.

Clinical and experimental data support a role for the intact cortex in recovery of function after stroke, particularly ipsilesional areas interconnected to the infarct. There is, however, little understanding of molecular events in the intact cortex, as most studies focus on the infarct and peri-infarct regions. This study investigated neuronal immunoreactivity for hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) in remote cortical areas 3 days after a focal ischemic infarct, as both HIF-1alpha and VEGFR-2 have been implicated in peri-infarct neuroprotection.

Effects of a rostral motor cortex lesion on primary motor cortex hand representation topography in primates.

Background: Small lesions to rostral versus caudal portions of the hand representation in the primary motor cortex (M1) produce different behavioral deficits. The goal of the present study was to determine if rehabilitative training has similar effects on functional topography of the spared M1 after rostral versus previously reported caudal M1 lesions.

Methods: Following a lesion to the rostral M1 hand area, monkeys were trained for 1 h/day for 30 days to retrieve food pellets from small wells using their impaired hand.