Neurobehavioral Assessments of Intracerebral Hemorrhage - Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments - page 644

Chapter 52
Neurobehavioral Assessments of Intracerebral Hemorrhage
Tim Lekic and John H. Zhang
Abstract
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating form of stroke which leads to lasting asymmetric
sensorimotor defi cits in humans and in rodent models. Many different tests have been used to evaluate the
level of injury for assessing therapeutic interventions. The most commonly used ICH neurobehavioral
assessment battery includes: (1) vibrissae-elicited forelimb placing (FP), (2) forelimb use asymmetry
(FUA), and (3) corner turning (CT). These evaluate the ability of the contralateral forelimb (to side of
injury) to be placed unto a table-top after contralateral vibrissae contact (FP), the use of forelimbs during
weight shifting for vertical exploration in a cylindrical enclosure (FUA), turning preference (right or left)
upon approaching a 30° corner (CT). Ideal tests should include affordably purchased and maintained
apparatus, not needing animal pretraining (unskilled rodents), not improving due to animal learning or
memory, does not necessitate aversive manipulations such as food or water deprivation, is easy to learn for
examiner (needs little practice and instruction). Therefore, this chapter addresses the issues for transla-
tional application of neurobehavioral tests after ICH.
Key words: Neurobehavior, Intracerebral hemorrhage, Rodents
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a relatively common and frequently
fatal type of stroke with lasting neurobehavioral defi cits among
survivors ( 1-3 ). Most animal models target the striatum by using
either blood or collagenase in rats or mice, to understand the causal
mechanisms behind brain injury and for evaluation of therapeutic
strategies ( 4-6 ). The inclusion of neurobehavioral assessments to
morphological and mechanistic outcomes has been a much needed
and important advancement in this fi eld over the past decade and
most current preclinical studies must now be gauged against well-
established neurological assessments during the translation of ther-
apeutics from the bench to the bedside ( 7, 8 ).
Behavioral tests need to be capable, as a minimum, of distin-
guishing among levels of injury to a specifi c brain region and not
be affected by compensatory learning strategies masquerading as
functional neural recovery. Among these, the skilled-reaching (pellet)
staircase is able to evaluate striatal function, but requires food