title: High-Impact, Self-Motivated Training Within an Enriched Environment With Single Animal Tracking Dose-Dependently Promotes Motor Skill Acquisition and Functional Recovery.
abstract: Functional recovery following central nervous system injuries is strongly influenced by rehabilitative training. In the clinical setting, the intensity of training and the level of motivation for a particular task are known to play important roles. With increasing neuroscience studies investigating the effects of training and rehabilitation, it is important to understand how the amount and type of training of individuals influences outcome. However, little is known about the influence of spontaneous "self-training" during daily life as it is often uncontrolled, not recorded, and mostly disregarded. Here, we investigated the effects of the intensity of self-training on motor skill acquisition in normal, intact rats and on the recovery of functional motor behavior following spinal cord injury in adult rats. We used a custom-designed small animal tracking system, "RatTrack," to continuously record the activity of multiple rats, simultaneously in a complex Natural Habitat-enriched environment. Naïve, adult rats performed high-intensity, self-motivated motor training, which resulted in them out-performing rats that were conventionally housed and trained on skilled movement tasks, for example, skilled prehension (grasping) and ladder walking. Following spinal cord injury the amount of self-training was correlated with improved functional recovery. These data suggest that high-impact, self-motivated training leads to superior skill acquisition and functional recovery than conventional training paradigms. These findings have important implications for the design of animal studies investigating rehabilitation and for the planning of human rehabilitation programs.
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland mstarkey@paralab.balgrist.ch.
authors: Michelle L
authors: ML
authors: Starkey
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Christiane
authors: C
authors: Bleul
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Hansjörg
authors: H
authors: Kasper
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Alice C
authors: AC
authors: Mosberger
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Björn
authors: B
authors: Zörner
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Giger
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Gullo
authors: FBI Science GmbH, Essen, Germany.
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Buschmann
authors: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Martin E
authors: ME
authors: Schwab
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: intensity; rehabilitation; self-training; spinal cord injury; tracking