Investigation and development of the mechanism of the intensive use of an impaired limb for clinical application

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25750213
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Nagoya City University
• Principal Investigator: ISHIDA Akimasa 名古屋市立大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (20632607)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: リハビリテーション / 脳出血 / 内包 / CI療法 / 赤核 / 運動野 / 可塑的変化 / 機能回復

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) promotes functional recovery of impaired forelimb after hemiplegic strokes, including intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), we challenged to determine the causal relationship between the CIMT-induced reorganization of the circuit and behavioral recovery after stroke.
We clarified the detailed and longitudinal reorganization of the ipsi-lesional motor cortex induced by CIMT after internal capsule hemorrhage in rats. Using the double-viral vector technique which induces pathway-selective blockade of the target pathway, we clearly revealed that the increased cortico-rubral axonal projections had causal linkage to the CIMT-induced recovery of forelimb reaching function. The present study demonstrates the cortico-rubral pathway is responsible circuits for the efficiency of CIMT. Our data will provide new insight into the underlying neural mechanisms of poststroke neurorehabilitative therapies.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学（リハビリテーション科学）