title: The stairway: a novel behavioral test detecting sensomotoric stroke deficits in rats.
abstract: New therapeutic concepts of cell and tissue replacement therapies have been introduced in treatment of neurological disorders which require robust and sensitive sensomotoric behavioral diagnostic test systems for experimental research. However, most test arrays available are either expensive and/or sensitive to environmental disturbances. Moreover, an extensive training phase for experimental animals is often required by conventional tests to get reproducible data. In this study, we describe a new test array, the Stairway, that is robust, cost-effective, and needs only a minimum training phase. Its efficiency is evaluated in comparison to the well-established RotaRod and modified neurological severity score. Stroke was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion. Human umbilical cord blood transplantation (n = 18) was performed 24 h after stroke by intravenous injection of suspended cells in comparison to control injections (n = 18), while behavioral assessment was carried out continuously for 29 days. Furthermore, development of lesions was monitored by magnetic resonance imaging. The results reveal the Stairway test as a simple, highly reproducible, and easy manageable test system thus reflecting therapeutic benefits precisely.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer-Institute of Cell Therapy and Immunology, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boltze
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kowalski
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Förschler
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lobsien
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Emmrich
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Egger
authors.forename: Manja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamprad
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blunk
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Emmrich
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D045442:Rotarod Performance Test; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*