title: An Automated Test of Rat Forelimb Supination Quantifies Motor Function Loss and Recovery After Corticospinal Injury.
abstract: Rodents are the primary animal model of corticospinal injury and repair, yet current behavioral tests do not show the large deficits after injury observed in humans. Forearm supination is critical for hand function and is highly impaired by corticospinal injury in both humans and rats. Current tests of rodent forelimb function do not measure this movement.
  
  
  
  To determine if quantification of forelimb supination in rats reveals large-scale functional loss and partial recovery after corticospinal injury.
  
  
  
  We developed a knob supination device that quantifies supination using automated and objective methods. Rats in a reaching box have to grasp and turn a knob in supination in order to receive a food reward. Performance on this task and the single pellet reaching task were measured before and after 2 manipulations of the pyramidal tract: a cut lesion of 1 pyramid and inactivation of motor cortex using 2 different drug doses.
  
  
  
  A cut lesion of the corticospinal tract produced a large deficit in supination. In contrast, there was no change in pellet retrieval success. Supination function recovered partially over 6 weeks after injury, and a large deficit remained. Motor cortex inactivation produced a dose-dependent loss of knob supination; the effect on pellet reaching was more subtle.
  
  
  
  The knob supination task reveals in rodents 3 signature hand function changes observed in humans with corticospinal injury: (1) large-scale loss with injury, (2) partial recovery in the weeks after injury, and (3) loss proportional to degree of dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: 1 Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sindhurakar
authors.affiliation: 1 Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Butensky
authors.affiliation: 2 The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meyers
authors.affiliation: 1 Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: 1 Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Thelma
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bethea
authors.affiliation: 1 Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, NY, USA.|3 City University of New York Medical School, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khalili
authors.affiliation: 2 The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Sloan
authors.affiliation: 2 The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Rennaker
authors.affiliation: 1 Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, NY, USA.|4 Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jason B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Carmel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057205:Automation, Laboratory; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005552:Forelimb / Q000503:physiopathology; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000293:injuries* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009048:Motor Skills; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009118:Muscimol; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000293:injuries / Q000503:physiopathology; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013484:Supination
chemical_list: D009118:Muscimol
keywords: corticospinal tract; forelimb; grasp; inactivation; motor cortex; motor recovery; pyramidal tract; pyramidotomy; reach; supination