The Stairway: A Novel Behavioral Test Detecting Sensomotoric Stroke Deficits in Rats

Abstract

New therapeutic concepts of cell and tissue replacement therapies have been introduced in treatment of neurological disorders which require robust and sensitive sensomotoric behavioral diagnostic test systems for experimental research. However, most test arrays available are either expensive and/or sensitive to environmental disturbances. Moreover, an extensive training phase for experimental animals is often required by conventional tests to get reproducible data. In this study, we describe a new test array, the Stairway, that is robust, cost-effective, and needs only a minimum training phase. Its efficiency is evaluated in comparison to the well-established RotaRod and modified neurological severity score. Stroke was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion. Human umbilical cord blood transplantation (n = 18) was performed 24 h after stroke by intravenous injection of suspended cells in comparison to control injections (n = 18), while behavioral assessment was carried out continuously for 29 days. Furthermore, development of lesions was monitored by magnetic resonance imaging. The results reveal the Stairway test as a simple, highly reproducible, and easy manageable test system thus reflecting therapeutic benefits precisely.

Cord Blood Cell Therapy Alters LV Remodeling and Cytokine Expression but does not Improve Heart Function after Myocardial Infarction in Rats

“…In this study, USSCs as precursors of MSCs with remarkable pluripotent capabilities [18,28] and, therefore, as promising candidates were compared with MN-CBCs in regard to their effectiveness. The latter have recently been shown to exert beneficial functional effects in a very similar setup of experimental stroke in SHR [29,30]. The lack of any obvious myocardial regeneration is in line with previous reports showing that myocyte transdifferentiation of various progenitor cells originating from the bone marrow (BM) is a very rare event, if any [31][32][33][34][35].…”

Monocytes are essential for the neuroprotective effect of human cord blood cells following middle cerebral artery occlusion in rat

“…When delivered systemically at 48 hours following MCAO these cells have their optimal effect on decreasing infarct volume and enhancing behavioral recovery (Newcomb et al, 2006; Vendrame et al, 2004). This work has been replicated by other research groups (Boltze et al, 2006; Boltze et al, 2011). Other studies have focused on CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells from HUCB as the active cell type (Boltze et al, 2008; Liu et al, 2006; Taguchi et al, 2004), although both CD34+ and CD34− HUCB cells had similar behavioral effects, but neither were as good as MNC (Boltze et al, 2012).…”

Neurological impairment in rats after subarachnoid hemorrhage—A comparison of functional tests

“…Information about integrity and function of the brain is missed if only specific morphologic changes of certain brain regions are examined. Therefore, to estimate the complete extent of the cerebral impairment, it is necessary to combine histological parameters with the examination of cognitive or behavioral changes [27].…”