MoCA For MCAO: Movement Capture Analysis For Evaluation Of Acute Ischemic Brain Damage And The Managements

Background and Purpose: Behavioral evaluation is an important index for assessing the extent ofbrain injury in clinical trials and animal experiments. Neurological scoresare common used, but they are cursory and subjective. We first used adigital three-dimensional simultaneous detective apparatus, MovementCapture Analysis (MoCA) system, to objectively record the subjects`instantaneous locomotion and evaluate the neurological injury in a focalcerebral ischemia model in rats. Material and Methods: 30 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groupsrandomly:(1) normal group (n=6); (2) the ischemia group (n=6): focal brainischemic injury was induced by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery(MCAO); (3) Dizocilpine (MK-801) group (n=6): MK-801 (1.0mg/kg)was given intraperitoneally after MCAO immediately; (4) Ginkgo bilobaextract (GBE) post-treatment group: After MCAO model was induced,GBE (100mg/kg) was given via intraperitoneal injection immediately; (4)GBE pre-treatment group (n=6): After 7 days of treatment with GBE(100mg/kg/day) intraperitoneally, MCAO model was made. Behavioralchanges were recorded by MoCA system at different time points, Longascore was also recorded at the same time. Animals were sacrificed after thelast record. Infarct volume was determined by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazoliumchloride (TTC) stained. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stain showed thehistological change. Immunohistochemistry staining with Neuronal Nuclei(NeuN) and microtubule associated protein-2 (MAP-2) antibodies werealso done to detect the injury of neurons. Results: 1. Longa score: The GBE pre-treatment group had significantdifference compared with the ischemia and the GBE post-treatment groupsat 3 hours after ischemia. The latter two groups have no difference. 24hours later, there were no difference beteen various groups. 2. MoCA: In the normal group, the graph of bilateral limbs were linesin horizon and the average of them in vertical were approximative. In theischemia group, the graph of bilateral limbs were curves in horizon and theaverage of them in vertical were distinguishing. There were significantdifferences in the difference of average heiht of bilateral forelimbs betweenthe ischemia group and normal group (P<0.001). The result of the GBEpost-treatment group were similar with the ischemia group. In the GBEpre-treatment group, some graphs were lines, others were curves in horizonand there were no significant difference in vertical data. 3. TTC: The result of the ischemia group was similar to the GBE post-treatment group, the MK-801 group and GBE pre-treatment group hadsignificant neuroprotective effect compared to the former two groups(P<0.001). 4. Histopathology: Compared to the MK-801 group and the GBE pre-treatment group, cells in the ischemia group and the GBE post-treatmentgroup were significantly decreased. 5. The correlation between Longa score and infarct volume was 0.66,while correlation between MoCA and infarct volume was 0.89 (P<0.05). Conclusion: MoCA system shows quantitative, objective, and reproducible data ofmovement impairment of subjects following cerebral ischemia in rats. Itprovides a new approach to evaluate ischemic brain damage andmanagements. It may be potential valuable for other diseases associatedwith movement dysfunction.