Restorative neurology and neuroscience
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Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. · Jan 2011
ReviewNoninvasive brain stimulation in the treatment of aphasia: exploring interhemispheric relationships and their implications for neurorehabilitation.
Aphasia is a common consequence of unilateral stroke, typically involving perisylvian regions of the left hemisphere. The course of recovery from aphasia after stroke is variable, and relies on the emergence of neuroplastic changes in language networks. Recent evidence suggests that rehabilitation interventions may facilitate these changes. ⋯ Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are two safe and noninvasive procedures that can be applied clinically to modulate cortical excitability during poststroke language recovery. Intervention with these noninvasive brain stimulation techniques also allows for inferences to be made regarding mechanisms of recovery, including the role of intrahemispheric and interhemispheric interactions. Here we review recent evidence that suggests that TMS and tDCS are promising tools for facilitating language recovery in aphasic patients, and examine evidence that indicates that both right and left hemisphere mechanisms of plasticity are instrumental in aphasia recovery.
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Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. · Jan 2011
Assessment and treatment of pain with non-invasive cortical stimulation.
There remains an unmet clinical need for the development of new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of pain. Recent findings have confirmed significant changes in the pain-related neural networks among patients with chronic pain, opening novel possibilities for investigation. Two non-invasive techniques (transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)) have emerged as interesting, effective, and promising modalities for pain relief. ⋯ Besides its use as a therapeutic tool, non-invasive brain stimulation can also be used to measure cortical reactivity and plasticity in chronic pain. Such measurements could potentially be used as biomarkers for the dysfunctional chronic pain-related neural network and might be helpful in measuring the efficacy of interventions designed for chronic pain.
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Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyNeuroprotective effects of progesterone and allopregnanolone on long-term cognitive outcome after global cerebral ischemia.
To assess the longterm neuroprotective effects of progesterone (P₄) and allopregnanolone (ALLO) on functional and morphological parameters of the integrity of the hippocampus, after global cerebral ischemia. ⋯ Performance of P₄ or ALLO treated rats in learning and memory tests suggests that these steroids promoted neural conditions accounting for adequate functioning long after ischemia, in spite of the loss of hippocampal pyramidal neurons.
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Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyImproved behavioral outcomes after progesterone administration in aged male rats with traumatic brain injury.
Twenty-month-old male Fischer 344 rats with bilateral contusions of the frontal cortex (n=8/group) or sham operations received 16 mg/kg of progesterone or vehicle at 1 and 6 h post-injury, then once every 24 h for the next seven days, with tapering of the dose over the final two treatments. The rats' behavioral recovery was then evaluated on tests of locomotor activity and Morris water maze learning. ⋯ The progesterone-treated rats had better functional outcomes than vehicle-treated rats with similar cortical injuries. The neurosteroid treatment did not affect the size of the necrotic cavity.
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Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. · Jan 2010
Comparative StudyVimentin and GFAP responses in astrocytes after contusion trauma to the murine brain.
Astroglial responses after traumatic brain injury are difficult to detect with routine morphological methods. The aims for this study were to compare the temporal and spatial expression pattern of vimentin- and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in a weight drop model of mild cerebral contusion injury in the rat. We also wanted to study the vimentin response with immunohistochemistry and vimentin mRNA RT-PCR analysis in severe cortical contusion injury produced by the controlled cortical impact in the mouse. ⋯ Vimentin immunoreactivity was more sensitive than the GFAP staining method to demonstrate the distribution and time course of astrocyte reactions after a contusion injury, especially in the white matter distant from the cortical lesion.