Cerebral ischemia, spatial memory and locomotor activity

Wang, Dong (1990) Cerebral ischemia, spatial memory and locomotor activity. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (8MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

Stroke is among one of the leading neurological disorders in clinics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional deficits of the experimental "stroke" animal. In order to get a better understanding of the real mechanisms behind these deficits, a systematic observation of the behavioural and pathological changes associated with cerebral ischemia was carried out in three experiments in Mongolian gerbils. -- In Experiment 1, an animal model using delayed, repetitive cerebral ischemia was used to determine the behavioural and neuropathological changes following multi-episodes of cerebral ischemia. -- In Experiment 2, animals were pre-exposed to the test environment before ischemia and an attempt was made to determine whether the post-ischemic hyperactivity resulted from a simple change in motor function or a deficit in spatial mapping ability. -- In Experiment 3, the neuropathological and locomotor activity changes resulting from different carotid artery occlusion durations (5,10 and 15 minutes) were investigated. An attempt was made to determine whether the graded ischemia resulting from the different ischemic durations resulted in graded increases in locomotor activity. -- From these three experiments it is concluded that the basis for the increased locomotor activity following an episode of cerebral ischemia is an alteration of spatial learning ability.

Actions (login required)

View Item