Development of a three-channel automatic climbing training system for rat rehabilitation after ischemic stroke

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a three-channel automatic speed-matching climbing training system that could train three rats at the same time for rehabilitation after an ischemic stroke. An infrared (IR) remote sensor was installed at the end of each channel to monitor the real-time position of a climbing rat. This research was carried out in five stages: i) system design; ii) hardware circuit; iii) running speed control; iv) functional testing; and v) verification using an animal model of cerebral stroke. The rehabilitated group significantly outperformed the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) sedentary group in the rota-rod and inclined plate tests 21 days after a stroke. The rehabilitated group also had a cerebral infarction volume of 28.34 ± 19.4%, far below 56.81 ± 18.12% of the MCAo group 28 days after the stroke, validating the effectiveness of this training platform for stroke rehabilitation. The running speed of the climbing rehabilitation training platform was designed to adapt to the physical conditions of subjects, and overtraining injuries can be completely prevented accordingly.

Optimised ladder‐climbing rehabilitation training for various stroke severity levels in rats

“…As a matter of fact, this work is an improved version of the proposal in ref. [21]. Each escalator in this work is designed in such a way that a rat stays somewhere thereon in the course of a rehabilitation programme, and the disadvantages in ref.…”

“…Each escalator in this work is designed in such a way that a rat stays somewhere thereon in the course of a rehabilitation programme, and the disadvantages in ref. [21] are overcome consequently. Table 1 gives a comparison among this proposal and other facilities as a way to highlight the feature of this work.…”

“…Therefore, we developed a ladder-climbing system with different climbing speeds based on the rat's position. This system has been proven to be effective and applicable for the rehabilitation of rats with the same stroke severity [15,17]. However, patients have different stroke severities.…”

“…In light of this, our team has committed to the development of adaptive facilities for rehabilitation purposes since years ago [14,15]. For example, a prebuilt table was referenced as a way to control the running speed of an escalator, such that injuries can be prevented and rats can be better rehabilitated accordingly [21]. However, the rehabilitation facility proposed in ref.…”

Customized Neurotization for Hindlimb Hemiplegia After a Hemorrhagic Stroke

“…Hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage(HICH) generally contributes to a catastrophic, life-changing damage with an incidence of approximately 150 in 100,000 worldwide annually,wherein >81.3% of these damages includes severe hemiplegia in the contr-alateral limbs [1][2][3][4].The victims with a limb motor dysfunction signi cantly lose self-help ability, placing a burden on family or forfeiting social engagement to some extent [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Traditionally,fundamental interventions to hemiplegia after HICH revolve around subsequent physical rehabilitation or physiotherapy [11][12][13][14].Nevertheless,res-ultant outcomes usually are discouraging or dissatisfactory,rousing uninterrupted quest for patient-oriented therapies.Many studies conducted in both humans and rodents have demonstrated that an injured brain cortex can re-control the contralateral limbs through a neural network remodeling across perilesional regions and contralesional hemisphere after rewiring an afferent circuit [15][16][17][18].Recently,peripheral nerve transfer,which can ignite compensational cerebral plasticity,has been exploited to rescue partial knee extension or hand prehension in patients with acute accid myelitis or central neurological diseases [19][20][21][22].Noticeably,though current neurotization stays in early stage and yet need to be polished [23,24],its highlights have activated our aspiration for its extrapolation to a lower-limb paralysis after HICH,and further interrogation of maneuvers for a dexterous motion during neurotization.…”