MCAO rats that received AAV-Netrin-1 gene transfer displayed increased movement,
compared to those that received AAV-LacZ (B) over 3 days in the
novel open field test (*: p<0.05). The AAV-Netrin-1
MCAO rats also had a tendency to move greater distances
(p=0.13) (A), spend more time being active
(*: p<0.05), and spend less time resting
(**: p<0.01) (C). MCAO rats
that received AAV-Netrin-1 gene transfer spent less rest time in the corner zone
compared to those that received AAV-LacZ (D) (*:
p<0.05). The AAV-Netrin-1 group spent more time resting
in the center zone as the days progressed, a sign of being less anxious (Z2
rest: treatment × zone interaction: p=0.06)
(E). Netrin-1 gene transfer decreased the favoring use of the
unaffected limb after MCAO (*: p<0.05) and increased
the use of the affected limb (*: p<0.05) during
exploratory activity in a cylinder (F). There was no significant
difference in the simultaneous use of the forelimbs between groups
(p>0.2). D1, D2 and D3 in X-axis represent consecutive
days of testing.