[Recovery of motor skills after the caudate lesion in rats with the different prefered forelimb: the role of intense retraining].
Rats were trained for instrumental reaching (17 mm) of a sunflower seed from a horizontal tube 12 mm in diameter. After training, rats were divided into groups, "right-" and "left-handers", by the forelimb preference. Unilateral electrolytic lesions of the head of the caudate nucleus contralateral to the prefered forelimb were performed. After surgery, animals were retrained to perform the food-retrieval reaction by the same forelimb (reaching reaction by the "intact" forelimb was prohibited by a special bracelet). Both right- and left-handers were divided into groups of rare and intense retraining. Over the course of five months, animals of the groups of rare training were tested once a week, whereas the intense retraining was performed three or four times a week. Rats with right and left forelimb preference were shown to recover the reaching skill with different rates. In general, animals with left-side caudate lesion (right-handers) recovered the skill better both under condition of spontaneous recovery (rare testing) and intense retraining. The results suggest different mechanism of skill recovery after the right- and left-side brain lesion.
Budilin
S Iu
SIu
Mats
V N
VN
Ioffe
M E
ME
Kulikov
M A
MA
D000818:Animals; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005552:Forelimb / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*