Acute Neuromuscular Adaptation at the Spinal Level Following Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion-Reperfusion in the Rat

Caroline Pin-Barre (1) , Jérôme Laurin (1) , Marie-Solenne Felix (1) , Vincent Pertici (1) , Frank Kober (2) , Tanguy Marqueste (1) , Valéry Matarazzo (3) , Françoise Muscatelli-Bossy (3) , Jean-Jacques Temprado (1) , Jeanick Brisswalter (4) , Patrick Decherchi (1)

1 ISM - Institut des Sciences du Mouvement Etienne Jules Marey
2 CRMBM - Centre de résonance magnétique biologique et médicale
3 INMED - INSERM U901 - Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée [Aix-Marseille Université]
4 Laboratory of Human Motricity, Education Sport and Health

The purpose of the study was to highlight the acute motor reflex adaptation and to deepen functional deficits following a middle cerebral artery occlusion-reperfusion (MCAO-r). Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were included in this study. The middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO; 120 min) was performed on 16 rats studied at 1 and 7 days, respectively (MCAO-D1 and MCAO-D7, n = 8 for each group). The other animals were divided into 3 groups: SHAM-D1 (n = 6), SHAM-D7 (n = 6) and Control (n = 8). Rats performed 4 behavioral tests (the elevated body swing test, the beam balance test, the ladder-climbing test and the forelimb grip force) before the surgery and daily after MCAO-r. H-reflex on triceps brachii was measured before and after isometric exercise. Infarction size and cerebral edema were respectively assessed by histological (Cresyl violet) and MRI measurements at the same time points than H-reflex recordings. Animals with cerebral ischemia showed persistent functional deficits during the first week post-MCAO-r. H-reflex was not decreased in response to isometric exercise one day after the cerebral ischemia contrary to the other groups. The motor reflex regulation was recovered 7 days post-MCAO-r. This result reflects an acute sensorimotor adaptation at the spinal level after MCAO-r.

Mots clés: Cerebral ischemia; Reflexes; Sports and exercise medicine; Motor reactions; Exercise; Triceps; Edema; Magnetic resonance imaging

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Caroline Pin-Barre, Jérôme Laurin, Marie-Solenne Felix, Vincent Pertici, Frank Kober, et al.. Acute Neuromuscular Adaptation at the Spinal Level Following Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion-Reperfusion in the Rat. PLoS ONE, 2014, 9 (2), pp.89953 - 89953. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0089953⟩. ⟨hal-01772533⟩