title: Cortical electrical stimulation combined with rehabilitative training: enhanced functional recovery and dendritic plasticity following focal cortical ischemia in rats.
abstract: This study assessed the behavioral and dendritic structural effects of combining subdural motor cortical electrical stimulation with motor skills training following unilateral sensorimotor cortex lesions in adult male rats. Rats were pre-operatively trained on a skilled forelimb reaching task, the Montoya staircase test, and then received endothelin-1 induced ischemic lesions of the sensorimotor cortex. Ten to 14 days later, electrodes were implanted over the peri-lesion cortical surface. Rats subsequently began 10 days of rehabilitative training on the reaching task in 1 of 3 conditions: 1. 50 Hz stimulation during training, 2. 250 Hz stimulation during training or 3. no stimulation. No significant difference in performance was found between the 250 Hz and no stimulation groups. The 50 Hz stimulation group had significantly greater rates of improvement with the impaired forelimb in comparison to 250 Hz and no stimulation groups combined. Fifty Hz stimulated animals also had a significant increase in the surface density of dendritic processes immunoreactive for the cytoskeletal protein, microtubule-associated protein 2, in the peri-lesion cortex compared to the other groups. These results support the efficacy of combining rehabilitative training with cortical electrical stimulation to improve functional outcome and cortical neuronal structural plasticity following sensorimotor cortical damage.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department and Neuroscience Institute, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: DeAnna L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Adkins-Muir
authors.forename: Theresa A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001835:Body Weight; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D002452:Cell Count; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004566:Electrodes; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D005552:Forelimb / Q000503:physiopathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009048:Motor Skills; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D019332:Endothelin-1; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins