Is remodelling of corticospinal tract terminations originating in the intact hemisphere associated with recovery following transient ischaemic stroke in the rat?

Mitchell, E. J., Dewar, D. and Maxwell, D. J. (2016) Is remodelling of corticospinal tract terminations originating in the intact hemisphere associated with recovery following transient ischaemic stroke in the rat? PLoS ONE, 11(3), e0152176. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152176) (PMID:27014870) (PMCID:PMC4807821)

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Abstract

Following large strokes that encompass the cerebral cortex, it has been suggested that the corticospinal tract originating from the non-ischaemic hemisphere reorganises its pattern of terminal arborisation within the spinal cord to compensate for loss of function. However many strokes in humans predominantly affect subcortical structures with minimal involvement of the cerebral cortex. The aim of the present study was to determine whether remodelling of corticospinal terminals arising from the non-ischaemic hemisphere was associated with spontaneous recovery in rats with subcortical infarcts. Rats were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion or sham surgery and 28 days later, when animals exhibited functional recovery, cholera toxin b subunit was injected into the contralesional, intact forelimb motor cortex in order to anterogradely label terminals within cervical spinal cord segments. Infarcts were limited to subcortical structures and resulted in partial loss of corticospinal tract axons from the ischaemic hemisphere. Quantitative analysis revealed there was no significant difference in the numbers of terminals on the contralesional side of the spinal grey matter between ischaemic and sham rats. The results indicate that significant remodelling of the corticospinal tract from the non-ischaemic hemisphere is not associated with functional recovery in animals with subcortical infarcts.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:EM was funded by a PhD Studentship from Medical Research Council http://www.mrc.ac.uk/. Additional support was from NeurosciencesFoundation, Glasgow, http://neurosciencesfoundation.org.uk/.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Dewar, Dr Deborah and Maxwell, Professor David
Authors: Mitchell, E. J., Dewar, D., and Maxwell, D. J.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
Journal Name:PLoS ONE
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1932-6203
ISSN (Online):1932-6203
Published Online:25 March 2016
Copyright Holders:Copyright: © 2016 Mitchell et al.
First Published:First published in PLoS ONE 11(3): e0152176.
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons license

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