Bi-hemispheric contribution to functional motor recovery of the affected forelimb following focal ischemic brain injury in rats

In many recovering hemiparetic stroke patients, movement of the affected limb elicits ipsilateral activation of sensorimotor areas within the undamaged hemisphere, which is not observed in control subjects. Following middle cerebral artery occlusion, rats received intensive enriched‐rehabilitation (ER) of the impaired forelimb for 4 weeks. Weekly assessments on a skilled reaching test demonstrated significant improvement in ischemic animals over 4 weeks of ER (P