Experimental stimulation as a treatment for early brain damage

The current work explores the therapeutic potential of experiential treatments for enhancing functional recovery and anatomical change after early brain damage. Normal rats and rats with perinatal cortical lesions (P2 or P7) were exposed to one of the following treatments: complex housing as juveniles, complex housing as adults, prenatal tactile stimulation, postnatal tactile stimulation, or postnatal handling (removal from the nest with no additional stimulaion). Behavior was assessed in adulthood the Morris water task and the Whishaw reaching task. There were sex differences in the details of the effect of experience on both behavioral recovery and brain morphology. For both sexes treatments initiated prior to or immediately after brain injury were most effective in improving functional outcome. This was correlated with changes in dendritic arborization and Acetylcholinesterase staining. The results suggest that behavioral treatments can be used to stimulate functional recovery after early brain injury.

Authors

• Gibb, Robbin L.
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• Brain damage -- Treatment
• Brain damage -- Animal models
• Dissertations, Academic

Identifier

hdl:10133/116

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/116