title: Enhancement of Contralesional Motor Control Promotes Locomotor Recovery after Unilateral Brain Lesion.
abstract: There have been controversies on the contribution of contralesional hemispheric compensation to functional recovery of the upper extremity after a unilateral brain lesion. Some studies have demonstrated that contralesional hemispheric compensation may be an important recovery mechanism. However, in many cases where the hemispheric lesion is large, this form of compensation is relatively limited, potentially due to insufficient connections from the contralesional hemisphere to the paralyzed side. Here, we used a new procedure to increase the effect of contralesional hemispheric compensation by surgically crossing a peripheral nerve at the neck in rats, which may provide a substantial increase in connections between the contralesional hemisphere and the paralyzed limb. This surgical procedure, named cross-neck C7-C7 nerve transfer, involves cutting the C7 nerve on the healthy side and transferring it to the C7 nerve on the paretic side. Intracortical microstimulation, Micro-PET and histological analysis were employed to explore the cortical changes in contralesional hemisphere and to reveal its correlation with behavioral recovery. These results showed that the contralesional hemispheric compensation was markedly strengthened and significantly related to behavioral improvements. The findings also revealed a feasible and effective way to maximize the potential of one hemisphere in controlling both limbs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xu-Yun
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.|Department of Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery, Jing'an District Central Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Qun
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Hand-Foot Surgery Department, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Mou-Xiong
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Tie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Dong
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Guang
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Dong
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, GA 30907, USA.|Yunnan BanNa Primate Model Research Center, BanNa Biomedical Research Institute, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China.
authors.forename: JoeZ
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tsien
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.|Department of Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery, Jing'an District Central Hospital, Shanghai, China.|State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Dong
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007839:Functional Laterality; D009043:Motor Activity; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D051381:Rats; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013997:Time Factors; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography