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Updated: May 31, 2026
Determining the Functional Status of the Corticospinal Tract Within One Week of Stroke
Published on: February 22, 2020
On the importance of long-term functional assessment after stroke to improve translation from bench to bedside
Thomas Freret1, Pascale Schumann-Bard, Michel Boulouard
1GMPc - Groupe Mémoire et Plasticité comportementale, EA4259, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, Caen, France. thomas.freret@unicaen.fr.
Abstract:
Despite extensive research efforts in the field of cerebral ischemia, numerous disappointments came from the translational step. Even if experimental studies showed a large number of promising drugs, most of them failed to be efficient in clinical trials. Based on these reports, factors that play a significant role in causing outcome differences between animal experiments and clinical trials have been identified; and latest works in the field have tried to discard them in order to improve the scope of the results. Nevertheless, efforts must be maintained, especially for long-term functional evaluations. As observed in clinical practice, animals display a large degree of spontaneous recovery after stroke. The neurological impairment, assessed by basic items, typically disappears during the firsts week following stroke in rodents. On the contrary, more demanding sensorimotor and cognitive tasks underline other deficits, which are usually long-lasting. Unfortunately, studies addressing such behavioral impairments are less abundant. Because the characterization of long-term functional recovery is critical for evaluating the efficacy of potential therapeutic agents in experimental strokes, behavioral tests that proved sensitive enough to detect long-term deficits are reported here. And since the ultimate goal of any stroke therapy is the restoration of normal function, an objective appraisal of the behavioral deficits should be done.
Insights
Translational research in cerebral ischemia faces challenges due to differing outcomes between animal models and human trials. This study highlights the importance of sensitive behavioral tests for evaluating long-term functional recovery after stroke.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Translational Medicine
- Cerebrovascular Research
Background:
- Cerebral ischemia research has yielded promising drugs in animal studies, but most fail in clinical trials.
- Differences in outcome between animal experiments and clinical trials are attributed to various factors.
- Spontaneous recovery is observed in stroke models, masking long-term deficits assessed by basic neurological tests.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and report behavioral tests sensitive to long-term functional deficits after experimental stroke.
- To improve the evaluation of therapeutic agents by focusing on persistent sensorimotor and cognitive impairments.
- To facilitate objective appraisal of behavioral deficits for effective stroke therapy development.
Main Methods:
- Review and reporting of established behavioral tests for assessing long-term functional recovery in rodent stroke models.
- Focus on sensorimotor and cognitive tasks that reveal deficits beyond the first week post-stroke.
- Emphasis on methods that allow objective appraisal of neurological impairment.
Main Results:
- Basic neurological assessments in rodents often show rapid recovery within the first week post-stroke.
- More demanding sensorimotor and cognitive tasks reveal persistent, long-lasting deficits.
- Abundant studies on short-term recovery contrast with fewer studies on long-term functional impairments.
Conclusions:
- Characterizing long-term functional recovery is critical for evaluating experimental stroke therapies.
- Sensitive behavioral tests are essential for detecting subtle, persistent deficits after stroke.
- Objective behavioral assessment is crucial for the ultimate goal of restoring normal function after stroke.