St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Psychology & Neuroscience (School of)
  • Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Psychology & Neuroscience Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Psychology & Neuroscience (School of)
  • Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Psychology & Neuroscience Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Psychology & Neuroscience (School of)
  • Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Psychology & Neuroscience Theses
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The assessment of behavioural deficits following focal cerebral ischemia

Thumbnail
View/Open
NicholasWardPhDThesis.pdf (38.80Mb)
Date
1997
Author
Ward, Nicholas M.
Supervisor
Brown, Verity Joy
Funder
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Abstract
Evaluating the efficacy of neuroprotective drugs in rat models of focal cerebral ischemia has involved histological and behavioural batteries to examine pathology and sensorimotor function. However, the behavioural tests used provide little insight into the nature of the neurological impairments. In an effort to gain further insight into the behavioural impairment following ischemic lesions, a battery of tasks were used. The tasks included tests of sensorimotor, motor (paw use), motivation, sensory and attentional function. The use of the potent vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 has allowed cerebral arteries to be occluded. This can be used to occlude the MCA (which is a common target of ischemia research), as well as other arteries, such as the ACA. Typically quantitative volumetric analysis has used nissl stains to assess lesion extent. However, alternative markers of tissue dysfunction are available including GFAP to assess the astroglial response to ischemia. Consequently cresyl violet and GFAP were compared along with different methods for calculating lesion volume. The boundaries of the lesion identified using the two stains corresponded closely providing care was taken when calculating lesion volume to avoid distortion from histological procedures and edema. Following MCA occlusion the rats displayed unilateral somatosensory and motor deficits, however there was no evidence of attentional dysfunction. Performance in the covert orienting task was compared with striatal dopamine depletion and with a posterior parietal cortical lesion. Neither of these manipulations resulted in deficits of covert orienting. Furthermore, the behavioural consequences of ACA occlusion were studied in two experiments using reaction time tasks designed to dissociate response impairments from dysfunction of motivation and attention. The ACA ischemic damage did not disrupt motivation or attention, however, the results were consistent with an impairment in selecting and initiating responses.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Collections
  • Psychology & Neuroscience Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14698

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter