Table 1.
Items evaluated in neurofunctional assessments
| Neurological assessment | Reflex | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Spontaneous activity | exploring an open arena for more than 20 s | 3 |
| exploring between 10 and 20 s | 2 | |
| exploring less than 10 s | 1 | |
| not exploring or moving, only when stimulated | 0 | |
| Body proprioception (S) | symmetric response when poked on each side | 3 |
| no response in the thoracic lesioned hemibody | 2 | |
| no response in the lesioned hemibody | 1 | |
| no bilateral responses | 0 | |
| Vibrissae stimulation (S) | symmetric response | 3 |
| attenuated response on the lesioned side | 2 | |
| no response on the lesioned side | 1 | |
| no response on any side | 0 | |
| Cylinder test (SM) | standing with both forelimbs at even height | 2 |
| unable to support body weight on lesioned forelimb | 1 | |
| Unresponsive | 0 | |
| Protective retraction of forelimbs after poking (SM) | symmetrical flex and moving from the site | 3 |
| asymmetrical flex of the ipsilateral forelimb but stays on-site | 2 | |
| slight movement of ipsilateral forelimb and stays on site | 1 | |
| does not flex forelimb and stays on site | 0 | |
| Body posture (SM) | Balanced | 3 |
| head tilted to the right and forearm extended | 2 | |
| body tilted to the right | 1 | |
| unable to keep posture with lesioned hindlimb | 0 | |
| March coordination (M) | symmetrical movement | 3 |
| support on the ulnar side of the lesioned forelimb | 2 | |
| dragging fingers during the march | 1 | |
| does not stand on lesioned forelimb | 0 | |
| Contra-lesioned-wise circling (M) | none | 3 |
| spontaneous circling | 2 | |
| stimulus-induced circling | 1 | |
| not moving | 0 | |
| Prehensile grip of forepaws to a wire (M) | symmetrical grip | 3 |
| asymmetrical, unable to hold body weight | 2 | |
| unable to hold the grip with lesioned forelimb | 1 | |
| falling from wire | 0 | |
| Ability to rise while suspended from the tail (M) | unskewed side to rise | 2 |
| able to rise only until reaching the horizontal plane | 1 | |
| unresponsive while suspended | 0 |
Every subject’s neurological performance was assessed at 1, 7, 14, and 21 days after stroke in 10 items, and for each one, a corresponding value was assigned. S, somatosensory evaluation; M, motor evaluation; SM, evaluation of the integration of somatosensory/motor coordination. Behavioral evaluations were cross-validated by a trained analyst blinded to the experimental conditions.