Tongue protrusion: a simple test for neurological recovery in rats following focal cerebral ischemia

A Master Key to Assess Stroke Consequences Across Species: The Adhesive Removal Test

“…Given the spatial distribution of the cerebral lesion ( Figure 5), this impairment might also reflect in this case a face-related somatososensory perception alteration (i.e., a difficulty for the animal to sense the adhesive with its ipsilateral whiskers when it approaches the tape to his face and/or with its tongue when he licks the adhesive in order to facilitate the removal) rather than a forelimb motor or sensory alteration (because the related brain region, i.e., S1 FL, is mainly spared by ischemia). This hypothesis is in accordance with a study reporting the usefulness of the tongue protrusion test in a rat model of proximal cerebral ischemia (Gulyaeva et al, 2003). Furthermore, it suggests that permanent distal stroke could be a relevant model of oral and facial impairments, which are also tremendous problems in human stroke.…”

An improved test of neurological dysfunction following transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats

“…In the rMCAo cohort, the indirect infarct volume was 37.4 ± 2.2%. All non-excluded animals in the rMCAo cohort demonstrated observable motor deficits including frequent weakness of the face/tongue (as previously described by Gulyaeva et al, 2003), loss of weight, as well as left forelimb paresis ranging from mild forelimb weakness to compulsory circling (graded by the modified Bederson's scale) at 1-h post-occlusion. These deficits persisted until Day 10 in all animals from this cohort (Fig.…”

“…As the MST does not require successful removal of the stimulus, the test may have less dependence on motor function. As described by Gulyaeva et al (2003), the filament model of MCAo produces readily demonstrable weakness of tongue and facial muscles, though whether this is due to the surgical procedure, or the cerebral injury, or both is unclear. Dittmar et al (2003) reported T2-hyperintensity and histologic injury in the facial muscles of nearly half of rats subjected to this model; however, later concluded that ECA transection and ischemia was likely not the cause of this weakness (Dittmar et al, 2005).…”

Effects of paeoniflorin on the cerebral infarction, behavioral and cognitive impairments at the chronic stage of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats

“…The mean area of each side was multiplied by section thickness to yield an estimate of the volume of undamaged tissue in each section. The volume of undamaged tissue on the ipsilateral side was then subtracted from the volume of the contralateral side to give an estimate of infarct volume for each section and the values for each section summed to yield an estimate of total infarct volume (Gulyaeva et al, 2003;Swanson et al, 1990;Yonemori et al, 1999).…”

“…Tongue protrusion TP test is as described by Gulyaeva et al (2003) with a slight modification. TP was measured by allowing rats to lick sesame oil from a glass cylinder 2.5 cm in length with an internal diameter of 5 mm.…”