title: Exercise and Environmental Enrichment as Enablers of Task-Specific Neuroplasticity and Stroke Recovery.
abstract: Improved stroke care has resulted in greater survival, but >50% of patients have chronic disabilities and 33% are institutionalized. While stroke rehabilitation is helpful, recovery is limited and the most significant gains occur in the first 2-3 months. Stroke triggers an early wave of gene and protein changes, many of which are potentially beneficial for recovery. It is likely that these molecular changes are what subserve spontaneous recovery. Two interventions, aerobic exercise and environmental enrichment, have pleiotropic actions that influence many of the same molecular changes associated with stroke injury and subsequent spontaneous recovery. Enrichment paradigms have been used for decades in adult and neonatal animal models of brain injury and are now being adapted for use in the clinic. Aerobic exercise enhances motor recovery and helps reduce depression after stroke. While exercise attenuates many of the signs associated with normal aging (e.g., hippocampal atrophy), its ability to reverse cognitive impairments subsequent to stroke is less evident. It may be that stroke, like other diseases such as cancer, needs to use multimodal treatments that augment complimentary neurorestorative processes.
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Jessica
authors: J
authors: Livingston-Thomas
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Nelson
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Sudhir
authors: S
authors: Karthikeyan
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Sabina
authors: S
authors: Antonescu
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors: Matthew Strider
authors: MS
authors: Jeffers
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Marzolini
authors: Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. dcorbett@uottawa.ca.|Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. dcorbett@uottawa.ca.|Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada. dcorbett@uottawa.ca.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. dcorbett@uottawa.ca.
authors: Dale
authors: D
authors: Corbett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D020127:Recovery of Function; D020521:Stroke / Q000628:therapy*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Neuroplasticity; enrichment; exercise; recovery of function; stroke