A forced running wheel system with a microcontroller that provides high-intensity exercise training in an animal ischemic stroke model

Abstract

We developed a forced non-electric-shock running wheel (FNESRW) system that provides rats with high-intensity exercise training using automatic exercise training patterns that are controlled by a microcontroller. The proposed system successfully makes a breakthrough in the traditional motorized running wheel to allow rats to perform high-intensity training and to enable comparisons with the treadmill at the same exercise intensity without any electric shock. A polyvinyl chloride runway with a rough rubber surface was coated on the periphery of the wheel so as to permit automatic acceleration training, and which allowed the rats to run consistently at high speeds (30 m/min for 1 h). An animal ischemic stroke model was used to validate the proposed system. FNESRW, treadmill, control, and sham groups were studied. The FNESRW and treadmill groups underwent 3 weeks of endurance running training. After 3 weeks, the experiments of middle cerebral artery occlusion, the modified neurological severity score (mNSS), an inclined plane test, and triphenyltetrazolium chloride were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed platform. The proposed platform showed that enhancement of motor function, mNSS, and infarct volumes was significantly stronger in the FNESRW group than the control group (P<0.05) and similar to the treadmill group. The experimental data demonstrated that the proposed platform can be applied to test the benefit of exercise-preconditioning-induced neuroprotection using the animal stroke model. Additional advantages of the FNESRW system include stand-alone capability, independence of subjective human adjustment, and ease of use.

Rescue of Brain Function Using Tunneling Nanotubes Between Neural Stem Cells and Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells

“…Neurological deficits were rated on a scale of 0 to 18 according to the modified neurological severity scores (mNSS) [18]. A higher score represents a more severe infarction.…”

JumpDetector: An automated monitoring equipment for the locomotion of jumping insects

“…In animal behavioral studies (e.g., including researches that investigate animal endurance locomotion), the desired display is usually triggered by external stimuli produced from an artificial system, in which specialized engines or devices were generally embedded to interact with animals (Webb, ; Krause et al ., ). With the help of these artificial interactors, locomotion has been extensively explored in many species (Romano et al ., ); examples include forced wheel running (Chen et al ., ) and treadmill running (Moraska et al ., ) for vertebrates' walking, wind tunnel (Nebel et al ., ) and swim tunnel devices (van den Thillart et al ., ) for birds flying and fish swimming. For insects with various movement strategies, such as crawling, jumping, or flying (Sane, ; Burrows & Sutton, ; Gunther et al ., ), the strategy for insect‐artificial interaction is complicated, such as the arena for crawling (Roessingh et al ., ) and flight mill for flying (Attisano et al ., ).…”

Positive Effects of Post-ischemic Forced Treadmill Training on Sensorimotor and Learning Outcomes Following Transient Global Cerebral Ischemia

“…Today, therapeutic exercise is the most common method of rehabilitation that can significantly reduce the severity of functional damage (14). Previous studies have shown the positive effects of exercise on physical recovery after stroke via improvement of muscle strength and tone, walking ability, and pulmonary functioning (15)(16)(17). These exercises usually include wheel running, voluntary and involuntary exercise, and forced treadmill running, all of which can contribute to motor function improvement (18).…”