Short-chain fatty acids ameliorate spinal cord injury recovery by regulating the balance of regulatory T cells and effector IL-17+ γδ T cells / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes motor, sensory, and autonomic dysfunctions. The gut microbiome has an important role in SCI, while short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are one of the main bioactive mediators of microbiota. In the present study, we explored the effects of oral administration of exogenous SCFAs on the recovery of locomotor function and tissue repair in SCI. Allen's method was utilized to establish an SCI model in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The animals received water containing a mixture of 150 mmol/L SCFAs after SCI. After 21 d of treatment, the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) score increased, the regularity index improved, and the base of support (BOS) value declined. Spinal cord tissue inflammatory infiltration was alleviated, the spinal cord necrosis cavity was reduced, and the numbers of motor neurons and Nissl bodies were elevated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and immunohistochemistry assay revealed that the expression of interleukin (IL)‍-10 increased and that of IL-17 decreased in the spinal cord. SCFAs promoted gut homeostasis, induced intestinal T cells to shift toward an anti-inflammatory phenotype, and promoted regulatory T (Treg) cells to secrete IL-10, affecting Treg cells and IL-17+ γδ T cells in the spinal cord. Furthermore, we observed that Treg cells migrated from the gut to the spinal cord region after SCI. The above findings confirm that SCFAs can regulate Treg cells in the gut and affect the balance of Treg and IL-17+ γδ T cells in the spinal cord, which inhibits the inflammatory response and promotes the motor function in SCI rats. Our findings suggest that there is a relationship among gut, spinal cord, and immune cells, and the "gut-spinal cord-immune" axis may be one of the mechanisms regulating neural repair after SCI.

Research advancements of motor imagery for motor function recovery after stroke / 生物医学工程学杂志

Neurological damage caused by stroke is one of the main causes of motor dysfunction in patients, which brings great spiritual and economic burdens for society and families. Motor imagery is an important assisting method for the rehabilitation of patients after stroke, which is easy to learn with low cost and has great significance in improving the motor function and the quality of patient's life. This paper mainly summarizes the positive effects of motor imagery on post-stroke rehabilitation, outlines the physiological performance and theoretical model of motor imagery, the influencing factors of motor imagery, the scoring criteria of motor imagery and analyzes the shortcomings such as the few kinds of experimental subject, the subjective evaluation method and the low resolution of the experimental equipment in the process of rehabilitation of motor function in post-stroke patients. It is hopeful that patients with stroke will be more scientifically and effectively using motor imagery therapy.

Prediction of motor recovery after ischemic stroke using diffusion tensor imaging: A meta-analysis / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

@#BACKGROUND:This systematic review aims to investigate the prediction value of diffusion tensor imaging for motor function recovery of ischemic stroke patients. METHODS:Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library 2016, Issue 9), PubMed, Embase, Clarivate Analytics, Scopus, CINAHL, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Google Scholar were searched for either motor recovery or corticospinal tract integrity by diffusion tensor imaging in different stroke phase from January 1, 1970, to October 31, 2016. The study design and participants were subjected to metrological analysis. Correlation coefficient (r) was used for evaluating the relationship between fractional anisotropy (FA) and motor function outcome. Correlation coefficient values were extracted from each study, and 95％ confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by Fisher's z transformation. Meta-analysis was conducted by STATA software. RESULTS:Fifteen studies with a total of 414 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that FA in the subacute phase had the significant correlation with motor function outcome (ES=0.75, 95％CI 0.62-0.87), which showed moderate quality based on GRADE system. The weight correlation coefficient revealed that an effect size (ES) of FA in acute phase and chronic phase was 0.51 (95％CI 0.33-0.68) and 0.62 (95％CI 0.47-0.77) respectively. CONCLUSION:This meta-analysis reveals that FA in the subacute phase after ischemic stroke is a good predictor for functional motor recovery, which shows moderate quality based on the GRADE system.

Neural Plasticity and Motor Functional Recovery After Stroke / 国际脑血管病杂志

At present, the roles of neural plasticity and motor functional recovery in stroke have increasingly been paid attention to. The remodeling of cerebral cortex after stroke can complement the function of injured tissues, which has been confirmed by animal experiments. Functional neuroimaging technique has been gradually used in the evaluation of neural plasticity.

Motor Function Recovery after Adipose Tissue Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy in Rats with Cerebral Infarction

OBJECTIVE: There have been recent reports that mesenchymal stromal cells that are harvested from adipose tissue are able to differentiate into neurons. In the present study, we administered adipose tissue derived stem cells in rats with cerebral infarction in order to determine whether those stem cells could enhance the recovery of motor function. METHODS: Cerebral infarction was induced by intraluminal occlusion of middle cerebral artery in rats. The adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells were harvested from inguinal fat pad and proliferated for 2 weeks in DMEM media. Approximately 1 x 10(6) cells were injected intravenously or into subdural space of the peri-lesional area. The rotor rod test was performed at preoperative state(before MCA occlusion), and 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks after the cell therapy. RESULTS: The motor functions that were assessed by rotor rod test at 1 week of the cell therapy were nearly zero among the experimental groups. However, there was apparent motor function recovery after 2 weeks and 4 weeks of cell injection in intravenously treated rats and peri-lesionaly treated rats, respectively, while there was no significant improvement till 8 weeks in vehicle treated rats. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that the adipose derived stem cell treatment improves motor function recovery in rats with cerebral infarction.