Comparative Enhancement of Motor Function and BDNF Expression Following Different Brain Stimulation Approaches in an Animal Model of Ischemic Stroke.
Serena-Kaye Kinley-Cooper Sims, Aitana Rizzo, Kern Howard and 3 others
PMID 32909525WHAT IT FOUND
In rats with severe stroke impairments, inhibitory stimulation of the healthy cortex combined with reach training improved motor recovery more than training alone or excitatory stimulation.
These animal results do not yet confirm similar benefits for human patients.
Key findings
01Inhibitory stimulation over the non-stroke cortex combined with rehabilitative training significantly improved motor recovery in severely impaired rats compared to training alone or excitatory stimulation.
02Excitatory stimulation over the stroke cortex did not further enhance motor recovery compared to rehabilitative training alone in animals with severe impairments.
03Blocking BDNF signaling negatively influenced motor recovery in rats receiving excitatory stimulation, but not in those receiving inhibitory stimulation or training alone.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
This is an animal study using rats, so the results cannot be directly applied to human stroke patients. The study used invasive epidural electrodes and specific stimulation parameters that differ from non-invasive human treatments like TMS. The mechanisms explaining why ICS worked and ECS did not are hypothetical and were not measured directly. The sample sizes in some subgroups were small, particularly in Study 2.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by N.I.H. grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these findings as evidence that non-invasive brain stimulation techniques like TMS will produce the same specific motor recovery effects in human patients, as the study used invasive electrodes in rats and did not test human-relevant non-invasive parameters.