Publications

Several procedures have been developed to enhance the rehabilitation of stroke patients. However, most techniques struggle to promote sustained recovery in the months following the treatment. Therefore, it is essential to understand the mechanisms that can be harnessed during treatment to potentiate retention of benefits and sustained recovery. While stroke patients often suffer from thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD), a perturbation in alpha (8-13 Hz) rhythms caused by decreased excitation in the cortico-thalamic projections, the functional relevance of TCD in stroke patients is not yet clear. We propose that TCD can be counteracted by combining focal stimulation of the motor cortex with virtual-reality (VR) based rehabilitation, which engages distributed networks associated with goal-oriented behavior. Critically, we investigate whether this can be the key to promoting sustained recovery in stroke patients. We compare thalamocortical rhythms and behavioral recovery in patients receiving Sham and bilateral tDCS stimulation of the motor cortex during therapy with the Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS). Our results reveal that patients in the tDCS group show a sustained recovery in all clinical scales up to three months post-treatment, as opposed to the Sham group. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the slowing down of alpha rhythms can be counteracted by transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), with a particular role for enhancing the excitability of parietal areas. That said, we found no correlation between changes in alpha rhythms and motor recovery. On one hand, our findings suggest that sustained recovery can be potentiated by tDCS-enhanced VR-based rehabilitation. On the other hand, enhancing the excitability of parietal areas while recruiting brain networks associated with goal-oriented behavior can successfully counteract TCD, even though this is likely not the main driver of sustained motor recovery.

JTD Keywords: Activation, Alpha rhythms, Deep brain-stimulation, Direct-current stimulation, Excitatory-inhibitory balance, Guidelines, Human thalamus, Involvement, Motor recovery, Quality-of-life, Rehabilitation, Sensitivity, Stroke, Transcranial direct-current stimulation

Exposure of experimental rodents to controlled cycles of light, food, and temperature is important when investigating alterations in circadian cycles that profoundly influence health and disease. However, applying such stimuli simultaneously is difficult in practice. We aimed to design, build, test, and open-source describe a simple device that subjects a conventional mouse cage to independent cycles of physiologically relevant environmental variables. The device is based on a box enclosing the rodent cage to modify the light, feeding, and temperature environments. The device provides temperature-controlled air conditioning (heating or cooling) by a Peltier module and includes programmable feeding and illumination. All functions are set by a user-friendly front panel for independent cycle programming. Bench testing with a model simulating the CO2 production of mice in the cage showed: a) suitable air renewal (by measuring actual ambient CO2), b) controlled realistic illumination at the mouse enclosure (measured by a photometer), c) stable temperature control, and d) correct cycling of light, feeding, and temperature. The cost of all the supplies (retail purchased by e-commerce) was <300 US$. Detailed technical information is open-source provided, allowing for any user to reliably reproduce or modify the device. This approach can considerably facilitate circadian research since using one of the described low-cost devices for any mouse group with a given light-food-temperature paradigm allows for all the experiments to be performed simultaneously, thereby requiring no changes in the light/temperature of a general-use laboratory. 1 Introduction

JTD Keywords: Animal experiment, Animal model, Animal research, Article, Circadian alteration, Circadian rhythm, Commercial phenomena, Controlled study, Cycling, Energy consumption, Energy-expenditure, Experimental model, Feeding, Food, Food availability, Illumination, Intermittent fasting, Light, Light cycle, Light dark cycle, Mouse, Nonhuman, Open source technology, Open-source hardware, Performance, Photography, Research, Rhythms, Rodent, Temperature, Temperature cycle