Tonic GABAergic inhibition during the repair phase of human stroke

An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel to the brain is interrupted or reduced, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients. This stroke may cause paralysis or weakness of muscles in the arm. The arm weakness is present in the majority of patients immediately after the stroke. Arm weakness may be hard to treat after stroke because the treatments that are normally used do not treat the brain problem. We think that people who have had an ischemic stroke have higher levels of inhibition of the neurons in the brain areas that control the weak arm. These brain changes may cause poor recovery of arm weakness. This project will test whether inhibition of these areas is high at the beginning of the rehabilitation regime and if this alteration is recovering over the entire course of rehabilitation. This project will also study the relationships between these brain changes and the changes in arm weakness to see if we can predict which person will recover the best with rehabilitation. This project will also test the effects of a repeated motor practice performed with the intact arm on the neurological recovery of those with more severe stroke, that respond little to the current rehabilitation.