The assessment of the functional outcome - in addition to the conventional endpoints
as histomorphometry of the ischemic brain damage - for the evaluation of cerebroprotective
therapies is increasingly recommended, although there is little consensus on appropriate
procedures. We evaluated a battery of sensorimotor tasks in rats after transient middle
cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) to select those with the highest potential to discriminate
between various degrees of neuronal damage. A total of 40 Sprague-Dawley rats were
subjected to 90 min of MCAO and assigned to one of four treatment arms: (1) sham-operated
controls, (2) vehicle-treated controls, (3) moderately effective neuroprotection by
2x100 mg/kg alpha-phenyl-N-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN), (4) highly effective neuroprotection
by mild hypothermia (33 degrees C). Functional deficits were daily quantified using
the beam balance task (1.5 cm, 2.5 cm diameter rectangular and 2.5 cm diameter cylindrical
beam), the prehensile traction task, the rotarod, and a six-point neuro-score. Infarction
of cerebral cortex and basal ganglia was assessed one week after ischemia. Treatment
with PBN significantly reduced cortical infarction (-31%), while treatment with hypothermia
resulted in a significantly smaller infarct volume of cortex (-94%) and basal ganglia
(-27%). Beam balance, prehensile traction and rotarod failed to demonstrate any difference
in motor performance. The six-point neuro-score showed a significant correlation with
cortical infarction from day 2 and with total infarct volume from day 3. The smaller
the reduction of infarct volume, the later the corresponding difference in neuro-score
became apparent. Functional outcome after MCAO in rats can be assessed by a relatively
simple measurement of neurological deficit. The slope of functional recovery is closely
related with the degree of the morphological, particularly cortical damage. If expected
treatment effects are small, an observation period of at least 3 days should be planned
for the study design. The functional impairment from focal brain ischemia and its
subsequent recovery could provide valuable information for future studies evaluating
the neuroprotective potential of novel agents and procedures.