Abstract
Both age and sex can influence recovery after brain injury. To determine the impact of these variables on motor recovery, young (2 month old) and older (5-6 months old) male and female rats were first trained to traverse a narrow elevated beam. Rats then underwent suction-ablation of the right sensorimotor cortex or sham operation. Motor recovery was measured by repeated testing on the beam over 3 weeks. Sham-operated rats performed perfectly regardless of age or sex throughout testing. There was no difference in beam-walking scores among the groups of lesioned rats on the first trial 24 hrs. after injury (Kruskal-Wallis H = 0.18, p = 0.98). There was a significant effect of age (two-way ANOVA F1,32 = 29.58, p < 0.0001) but not sex (ANOVA F1,32 = 0.78, p = 0.38) on subsequent recovery. These data show that motor recovery after unilateral injury to the sensorimotor cortex varies with age, but not sex.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 39-43 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 1999 |
Keywords
- Aging
- Cortex
- Motor function
- Rat
- Recovery
- Sex
- Stroke
- Trauma
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neurology
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Clinical Neurology