title: Behavioral deficits after distal focal cerebral ischemia in mice: Usefulness of adhesive removal test.
abstract: Distal occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (dMCAo), which closely mimics human stroke, is one of the most used animal models. However, although assessment of histological and functional outcome is increasingly recommended for preclinical studies, the latter is often excluded because of the high difficulties to estimate, especially in mice, behavioral impairments. The aim of our study was to deeply screen functional consequences of distal permanent MCAo in mice to target relevant behaviors for future studies. A set of sensorimotor and cognitive tests were performed during 3 weeks postsurgery in 2 groups of mice. Afterward, brain infarctions were estimated by histological staining or magnetic resonance imaging. Overall, while no long-term functional impairments could be detected, the adhesive removal was the only test showing a deficit. Interestingly, this sensorimotor impairment was correlated to cortical damage 3 weeks after surgery. In conclusion, despite the fact that dMCAo-induced deficits could not be evidenced by most of our behavioral tests, the authors showed that the adhesive removal test was the only one, sensitive enough, to highlight a long-term deficit. This result suggests therefore that this mouse model of ischemia is relevant to efficiently assess therapeutic strategies with histological but also behavioral analysis, provided that relevant tests are used.
authors.affiliation: UPRES EA 4259, Groupe Mémoire et Plasticité Comportementale (GMPc), Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, UFR de Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Freret
authors.forename: Valentine
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bouet
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leconte
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roussel
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chazalviel
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Divoux
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schumann-Bard
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boulouard
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D045442:Rotarod Performance Test; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*