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In-Depth Information
Chapter 55
The Vibrissae-Elicited Forelimb Placing Test After
Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Rodents
Tim Lekic , William Rolland , Anatol Manaenko , Nancy Fathali ,
and John H. Zhang
Abstract
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating form of stroke which leads to lasting asymmetric
sensorimotor defi cits in humans. The test of vibrissae-elicited forelimb placing (FP) has been widely used
for the longitudinal assessment of sensorimotor ability in rodent models of ICH. This test evaluates the
ability of the contralateral forelimb (to side of injury) to be placed into a table-top after contralateral vibris-
sae contact, and can quantify the recovery of sensorimotor function without the effect of learning from
repeated testing. This chapter includes the necessary descriptions for performing this striatal sensorimotor
function assessment.
Key words:
Behavior, Forelimb placing, Cerebral hemorrhage, Rats, Mice
1. Introduction
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a relatively common and stroke
subtype that leads to devastating neurological defi cits (
1, 2
). The
brain injury in the days following ICH will worsen neurological
ability even further than the initial presentation (
3
). There is an
imperative need for therapeutics to be found for improvement of
neurobehavioral outcomes of this patient population (
4
). Bleeding
into the striatum is the most common brain region for ICH clini-
cally, and has been refl ected in the principal experimental models
of ICH, using either autologous blood or collagenase-mediated
injury in rodents (
5
). The forelimb contralateral to the side of ICH
bleeding is consequently impaired to the degree of damage to the
cerebral structures (
6
).
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