Examining Infarct Sizes in Female Sprague Dawley Rats in Response to a Delayed Post-Stroke Pharmacological Treatment in Combination with Physical Rehabilitation

In this study, we hypothesize that a pharmacological drug treatment comprised of Fluoxetine, Simvastatin and Ascorbic acid together with physical rehabilitation would reduce infarct sizes. Over the period of 60 days after stroke-induction, 13 of the 23 rats were administered the drugs beginning 20-26 hours after stroke-induction and the rest were assigned to the control group. Physical rehabilitation exercises were initiated from poststroke day 8 and continued for 23 alternate days. The rats were tested for functional recovery using Montoya staircase apparatus and were euthanized after post-stroke day 60. The brains sections were analyzed using Nissl stain for infarct volume analysis. Due to the excess amount physical rehabilitation exercise in comparison to the previous studies conducted in our laboratory, the rats suffered large amount of stress. Stress antagonizing neurogenesis is believed to be the reason for lack of motor functional recovery and lack of any reduction in infarct sizes