Aileen Schroeter

Alice C Mosberger

Anna-Sophia Wahl

Benjamin V Ineichen

Biagio Brattoli

Bjoern Ommer

Eva Erlebach

Julia Kaiser

Martin E Schwab

Martin Wieckhorst

Martina Stirn

Roberts RC

Shirin Schneeberger

Stefan Imobersteg

Uta Büchler

Whishaw IQ

 The majority of stroke patients develop post-stroke fatigue, a symptom which impairs motivation and diminishes the success of rehabilitative interventions. We show that large cortical strokes acutely reduce activity levels in rats for 1–2 weeks as a physiological response paralleled by signs of systemic inflammation. Rats were exposed early (1–2 weeks) or late (3–4 weeks after stroke) to an individually monitored enriched environment to stimulate self-controlled high-intensity sensorimotor training. A group of animals received Anti-Nogo antibodies for the first two weeks after stroke, a neuronal growth promoting immunotherapy already in clinical trials. Early exposure to the enriched environment resulted in poor outcome: Training intensity was correlated to enhanced systemic inflammation and functional impairment. In contrast, animals starting intense sensorimotor training two weeks after stroke preceded by the immunotherapy revealed better recovery with functional outcome positively correlated to the training intensity and the extent of re-innervation of the stroke denervated cervical hemi-cord. Our results suggest stroke-induced fatigue as a biological purposeful reaction of the organism during neuronal remodeling, enabling new circuit formation which will then be stabilized or pruned in the subsequent rehabilitative training phase. However, intense training too early may lead to wrong connections and is thus less effective. </jats:p

Crossref

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism

Early reduced behavioral activity induced by large strokes affects the efficiency of enriched environment in rats

Early reduced behavioral activity induced by large strokes affects the efficiency of enriched environment in rats

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref