Nogo-A inhibition induces recovery from neglect in rats

Behav Brain Res. 2008 Mar 5;187(2):262-72. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2007.09.018. Epub 2007 Sep 20.

Abstract

Neglect is a complex human cognitive spatial disorder typically induced by damage to prefrontal or posterior parietal association cortices. Behavioral treatments for neglect rarely generalize outside of the therapeutic context or across tasks within the same therapeutic context. Recovery, when it occurs, is spontaneous over the course of weeks to months, but often it is incomplete. A number of studies have indicated that anti-Nogo-A antibodies can be used to enhance plasticity and behavioral recovery following damage to motor cortex, and spinal cord. In the present studies the anti-Nogo-A antibodies IN-1, 7B12, or 11C7 were applied intraventricularly to adult rats demonstrating severe neglect produced by unilateral medial agranular cortex lesions in rats. The three separate anti-Nogo-A antibody groups were treated immediately following the medial agranular cortex lesions. Each of the three antibodies induced dramatic significant behavioral recovery from neglect relative to controls. Severing the corpus callosum to destroy inputs from the contralesional hemisphere resulted in reinstatement of severe neglect, pointing to a possible role of interhemispheric mechanisms in behavioral recovery from neglect.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Analysis of Variance
  • Animals
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Corpus Callosum / physiology
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Motor Activity / physiology
  • Myelin Proteins / physiology*
  • Neuronal Plasticity / physiology*
  • Nogo Proteins
  • Perceptual Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Random Allocation
  • Rats
  • Recovery of Function / physiology*
  • Statistics, Nonparametric

Substances

  • Myelin Proteins
  • Nogo Proteins
  • RTN4 protein, human
  • Rtn4 protein, rat