Individuals with stroke are "preferentially responsive" to arm rehabilitation if therapy is provided within an early critical period window of stroke.
The post-stroke critical period lasts up to three months, likely a little longer than that post stroke. The preferred responsiveness seems to spontaneously disappear by around 6-months after stroke.
What makes the neuronal circuitry particularly responsive to behavioral experience (therapy) early post stroke?
Similar time-sensitive windows of preferred responsiveness to behavioral experience, called critical periods, occur in the developing nervous system. These critical period windows are governed by distinct genetic-molecular cascades, and result in characteristic neurophysiological changes indicative of heightened neuroplasticity. This project is testing if similar neurophysiological mechanisms occur in post-stroke critical periods as during juvenile critical periods.
The post-stroke critical period lasts up to three months, likely a little longer than that post stroke. The preferred responsiveness seems to spontaneously disappear by around 6-months after stroke.
What makes the neuronal circuitry particularly responsive to behavioral experience (therapy) early post stroke?
Similar time-sensitive windows of preferred responsiveness to behavioral experience, called critical periods, occur in the developing nervous system. These critical period windows are governed by distinct genetic-molecular cascades, and result in characteristic neurophysiological changes indicative of heightened neuroplasticity. This project is testing if similar neurophysiological mechanisms occur in post-stroke critical periods as during juvenile critical periods.