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Updated: Jun 2, 2026
Compensatory Limb Use and Behavioral Assessment of Motor Skill Learning Following Sensorimotor Cortex Injury in a Mouse Model of Ischemic Stroke
Published on: July 10, 2014
Norepinephrine depletion impairs motor recovery following sensorimotor cortex injury in the rat
L B Goldstein1, A Coviello, G D Miller
1Neurology Research Laboratory, Durham Department of Veterans' Affairs, Medical Center, Durham, NC (U.S.A.) Department of Medicine Neurology, Duke University, Durham, NC (U.S.A.) Department of Medicine, Center for Health Policy Research and Education, Duke University, Durham, NC (U.S.A.).
Abstract:
Beam-walking in the rat provides a method for investigating the effects of drugs on motor recovery following unilateral injury to the sensorimotor cortex. In the present experiment, the impact of norepinephrine depletion on beam-walking recovery was investigated. Groups of rats were first given either the neurotoxin DSP-4 or saline. Two weeks later, the animals were trained at the beam-walking task. Rats were then subjected to either a unilateral sensorimotor cortex lesion or sham operation. Recovery of beam-walking performance was measured over the next 12 days. Pretreatment with DSP-4 significantly slowed the rate of recovery but did not significantly affect sham-operated rats. Norepinephrine was significantly diminished in both lesioned and sham-operated rats that had been given DSP-4. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that recovery of beam-walking in the rat is mediated, at least in part, through noradrenergic neurons.
