Studies of Mechanisms of Pharmacological Enhancement of Functional Recovery After Cortical Contusion.

摘要

Electrophysiology, autoradiography, histochemistry, biochemistry, anatomical, and behavioral research techniques were used in studies to examine remote functional depressions, and the effects of drug treatments on some of these measures, in rats with unilateral ablation of the sensorimotor cortex (SMCx) or traumatic brain injury (contusion; TBI) centered over the SMCx. In addition to d-amphetamine (d-AMPH), drugs increasing norepinephrine (NE) release were found to accelerate beam-walking (BW) recovery in rats with SMCx ablation. The dose of d-AMPH required to induce BW recovery after TBI was dependent upon whether the right or left hemisphere was damaged and/or the extent of damage to midline cortex. Drugs decreasing NE levels or blocking alphal-NE receptors were found to reinstate BW deficits in rats after SMCx ablation.... Brain injury, Cerebral metabolism, RA 2.