Functional recovery after combined cerebral and cerebellar hemispherectomy in the rat
R Marino1, A G Machado, C Timo-Iaria
1Laboratory of Experimental Functional Neurosurgery, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Brazil. raulmarino@uol.com.br
Abstract:
The cerebellum seems to be one of the structures responsible for early neurological improvement after cerebral hemispherectomy and its consequent deficits. Considered as an accessory brain, the cerebellum may constitute a neurobiological substrate for the recovery of such extensive cortical and subcortical lesions. It may compensate for the injury by structural remodeling and plasticity. The authors observed that, indeed, rats submitted to contralateral hemicerebellectomy before cerebral hemispherectomy do not recover as well as those submitted to hemicerebellectomy 2 weeks after cerebral hemispherectomy.
