Focal brain ischemia in mice does not cause electrophysiological signs of critical illness neuropathy.

Objective: Critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) is a common complication of severe systemic illness treated in intensive care medicine. Ischemic stroke leads to an acute critical injury of the brain with hemiparesis, immunosuppression and subsequent infections, all of which require extended medical treatment. Stroke-induced sarcopenia further contributes to poor rehabilitation and is characterized by muscle wasting and denervation in the paralytic, but also the unaffected limbs. Therefore, we asked whether stroke leads to an additional CIP-like neurodegeneration.

Results: Focal brain ischemia was induced in adult mice by 60-min middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) following reperfusion and led to functional deficits and marked hemispheric brain atrophy. Nerve conduction function and muscle potentials were measured in the ipsilateral sciatic nerve and gastrocnemius and quadriceps muscle with electroneurography/-myography on days 10, 22, 44 after stroke. An additional crush-injury to the sciatic nerve was included in two sham mice as positive control (sham +). We found no differences in nerve conduction function nor spontaneous electromyographic activity between MCAo and sham animals. Sham + mice developed marked reduction of the motor action potential amplitudes and conduction velocities with pathologic spontaneous activity. In conclusion, we found no peripheral nerve dysfunction/degeneration as signs of a CIP-like phenotype after MCAo.