Factors influencing functional recovery following hemidecortication in rats

Large neocortical lesions, such as hemidecortication, are detrimental for motor and cognitive skills. This thesis investigates the effect of age at the time of lesion on functional outcome. Attempts were then made to improve the outcome by using two simple treatments, tactile stimulation and Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 (FGF-2). The functional outcome of animals was measured using a series of behavioural tests (Morris water task, skilled reaching, forelimb placing during spontaneous vertical exploration, and the sunflower seed task). A qualitative difference was noted between animals that received hemidecortication at post natal day ten (P 10) versus animals that received a hemidecortication in adulthood (postnatal day, P 90). When the tactile stimulation treatment was used on animals that received P 10 hemidecortication, cognitive and motor improvements were noted. The same was not true for injections of FGF-2. When given after P 10 hemidecortication, this treatment impaired the cognitive abilities of rats in the Morris water task. There are two main points from this project: 1) overall functional recovery is not better or worse but simply different based on the age at which the trauma occurred and 2) treatments have varied success with different types of brain injury.

Authors

• Day, Morgan M.
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• Dissertations, Academic
• Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Research
• Rats as laboratory animals
• Brain damage -- Research
• Cerebral cortex -- Wounds and inuries -- Research

Identifier

hdl:10133/247

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/247