Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rodent Skilled Reaching for Modeling Pathological Conditions of the Human Motor System

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Animal Models of Movement Disorders

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 61))

Abstract

Almost all nervous system motor disorders result in impaired use of the upper limb. Skilled reaching, including the ability to reach for, grasp, and eat a piece of food (reach-to-eat), when impaired, limits patient independence and quality of life. The present paper describes a rat preclinical model of skilled reaching that is useful for investigating human motor system pathology and potential therapies. Rat skilled reaching is described using end-point measures of success, scoring of the movement, and biometric measures. The chapter also presents arguments justifying the model in relation to nervous system organization and shows how the model applies to a number of human motor system pathologies, including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and spinal cord injury.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Iwaniuk AN & Whishaw IQ (2000) On the origin of skilled forelimb movements. Trends in Neuroscience, 23:327–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Whishaw IQ & Pellis SM (1990) The structure of skilled forelimb reaching in the rat: a proximally driven movement with a single distal rotary component. Behavioural Brain Research, 41:49–59.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Montoya CP, Campbell-Hope LJ, Pemberton KD, Dunnett SB (1991) The “staircase test”: a measure of independent forelimb reaching and grasping abilities in rats. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 36:219–228.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Peterson GM (1932) Mechanisms of handedness in the rat. Comparative Psychology Monographs, 9:21–43.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Whishaw IQ, O’Connor RB, Dunnett SB (1986) The contributions of motor cortex, nigrostriatal dopamine and caudate-putamen to skilled forelimb use in the rat. Brain, 109:805–843.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Ballermann M, Metz GA, McKenna JE, Klassen F, Whishaw IQ (2001) The pasta matrix reaching task: a simple test for measuring skille reaching distance, direction, and dexterity in rats. European Journal of Neuroscience, 14:27–37.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Castro AJ (1972) The effects of cortical ablations on digital usage in the rat. Brain Research, 37:173–185.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Whishaw IQ (2005) Prehension. In: Whishaw IQ, Kolb B (Eds.) The behaviour of the laboratory rat: a handbook with tests. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 162–170.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Whishaw IQ & Tomie JA (1989) Olfaction directs skilled forelimb reaching in the rat. Behavioural Brain Research, 32:11–21.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gholamrezaei G & Whishaw IQ (2009) Individual differences in skilled reaching for food related to increased number of gestures: evidence for goal and habit learning of skilled reaching. Behavioral Neuroscience, 123:863–874.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Alaverdashvili M, Foroud A, Lim DH, Whishaw IQ (2008b) “Learned baduse” limits recovery of skilled reaching for food after forelimb motor cortex stroke in rats: A new analysis of the effect of gestures on success. Behavioural Brain Research, 188:281–290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Erickson CA, Gharbawie OA, Whishaw IQ (2007) Attempt-dependent decrease in skilled reaching characterizes the acute postsurgical period following a forelimb motor cortex lesion: an experimental demonstration of learned nonuse in the rat. Behavioural Brain Research, 179:208–218.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Whishaw IQ, Gorny B, Tran-Nguyen LT, Castaneda E, Miklyaeva EI, Pellis SM (1994) Making two movements at once: impairments of movement, posture, and their integration underlie the adult skilled reaching deficit of neonatallly dopamine-depleted rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 61:65–77.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Gharbawie OA & Whishaw IQ (2006) Parallel stages of learning and recovery of skilled reaching after motor cortex stroke: “oppositions” organize normal and compensatory movements. Behavioural Brain Research, 175:249–262.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Foroud A & Whishaw IQ (2006) Changes in the kinematic structure and non-kinematic features of movements during skilled reaching after stroke: a Laban Movement Analysis in two case studies. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 158:137–149.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Gharbawie OA, Gonzalez CLR, Whishaw IQ (2005) Skilled reaching impairments from the lateral frontal cortex component of middle cerebral artery stroke: a qualitative and quantitative comparison to focal motor cortex lesions in rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 156:125–137.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Alaverdashvili M, Leblond H, Rossignol S, Whishaw IQ (2008a) Cineradiographic (video X-ray) analysis of skilled reaching in a single pellet reaching task provides insight into relative contribution of body, head, oral, and forelimb movements in rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 192:232–247.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Whishaw IQ (2000) Loss of the innate cortical engram for action patterns used in skilled reaching and the development of behavioral compensation following motor cortex lesions in the rat. Neuropharmacology, 39:788–805.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Sacrey LA, Alaverdashvili M, Whishaw IQ (2009) Similar hand shaping in reaching-for-food (skilled reaching) in rats and humans provide evidence of homology in release, collection, and manipulation movements. Behavioural Brain Research, 204:153–161.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Gharbawie OA, Auer RN, Whishaw IQ (2006) Subcortical middle cerebral artery ischemia abolishes the digit flexion and closing used for grasping in rat skilled reaching. Neuroscience, 137:1107–1118.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Whishaw IQ, Sarna JR, Pellis SM (1998) Evidence for rodent-common and species-typical limb and digit use in eating, derived from a comparative analysis of ten rodent species. Behavioural Brain Research, 96:79–91.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Alaverdashvili M & Whishaw IQ (2008c) Motor cortex stroke impairs individual digit movement in skilled reaching by the rat. European Journal of Neuroscience, 28:311–322.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Woodlee MT, Asseo-Garcia AM, Zhao X, Liu SJ, Jones TA, Schallert T (2005) Testing forelimb placing “across the midline” reveals distinct, lesion-dependent patterns of recovery in rats. Experimental Neurology, 191:310–317.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Muir GD, Whishaw IQ (1999) Ground reaction forces in locomoting hemi-parkinsonian rats: a definitive test for impairments and compensation. Experimental Brain Research, 126:307–314.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Whishaw IQ, Travis SG, Koppe SW, Sacrey LA, Gholamrezaei G, Gorny B (2010a) Hand shaping in the rat: Conserved release and collection vs. flexible manipulation in overground walking, cylinder exploration, and skilled reaching. Behavioural Brain Research, 206:21–31.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Schallert T, Fleming SM, Leasure JL, Tillerson JL, Bland ST (2000) CNS plasticity and assessment of forelimb sensorimotor outcome in unilateral rat models of stroke, cortical ablation, parkinsonism and spinal cord injury. Neuro­pharmacology, 39:777–787.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Graziano M (2006) The organization of behavioral repertoire in motor cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 29:105–134.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Ramanathan D, Conner JM, Tuszynski MH (2006) A form of motor cortical plasticity that correlates with recovery of function after brain injury. Proceeding from the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 103:11370–11375.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Whishaw IQ, Pellis SM, Gorny BP (1992) Skilled reaching in rats and humans: evidence for parallel development or homology. Behavioural Brain Research, 47:59–70.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Alaverdashvili M & Whishaw IQ (2010) Compensation aids skilled reaching in aging and in recovery from forelimb motor cortex stroke in the rat. Neuroscience, 167:21–30.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Gharbawie OA, Karl JM, Whishaw IQ (2007) Recovery of skilled reaching following motor cortex stroke: do residual corticofugal fibers mediate compensatory recovery? European Journal of Neuroscience, 26:3309–3327.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Whishaw IQ, Pellis SM, Gorny BP, Pellis VC (1991) The impairments in reaching and the movements of compensation in rats with motor cortex lesions: an endpoint, videorecording, and movement notation analysis. Behavioural Brain Research, 42:77–91.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Whishaw IQ, Suchowersky O, Davis L, Sarna J, Metz G, Pellis SM (2002) Impairment of pronation, supination, and body co-ordination in reach-to-grasp tasks in human Parkinson’s disease (PD) reveals homology to deficits in animal models. Behavioural Brain Research, 133:165–175.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Doan J, Melvin KG, Whishaw IQ, Suchowersky O (2008) Bilateral impairments of skilled reach-to-eat in early Parkinson’s disease patients presenting with unilateral or asymmetrical symptoms. Behavioural Brain Research, 194:207–213.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Metz GA & Whishaw IQ (2002) Drug-induced rotation intensity in unilateral dopamine-depleted rats is not correlated with end point or qualitative measures of forelimb or hindlimb motor performance. Neuroscience, 111:325–336.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Miklyaeva EI, Castaneda E, Whishaw IQ (1994) Skilled reaching deficits in unilateral dopamine-depleted rats: impairments in movement and posture and compensatory adjustments. The Journal of Neuroscience, 14:7148–7158.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Ho AK, Manly T, Nestor PJ, Sahakian BJ, Bak TH, Robbins TW, Rosser AE, Barker RA (2003) A case of unilateral neglect in Huntington’s disease. Neurocase, 9:261–273.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Klein A, Sacrey LR, Dunnett SB, Whishaw IQ, Nikkhah G (2010) Proximal movements compensate for distal movement impairments in a reach-to-eat task in Huntington’s disease: New insights into motor impairments in a real-world skill. Neurobiology of Disease, (accepted with revisions).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Whishaw IQ, Zeeb F, Erickson C, McDonald RJ (2007) Neurotoxic lesions of the caudate-putamen on a reaching for food task in the rat: acute sensorimotor neglect and chronic qualitative motor impairment follow lateral lesions and improved success follows medial lesions. Neuroscience, 146:86–97.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Fricker-Gates RA, Smith R, Muhith J, Dunnett SB (2003) The role of pretraining on skilled forelimb use in an animal model of Huntington’s disease. Cell Transplantation, 12:257–264.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Koshland GF, Galloway JC, Farley B (2005) Novel muscle patterns for reaching after cervical spinal cord injury: a case for motor redundancy. Experimental Brain Research, 133–147.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Laffont I, Briand E, Dizien O, Combeaud M, Bussel B, Revol M, Roby-Brami A (2000) Kinematics of prehension and pointing ­movements in C6 quadriplegic patients. Spinal Cord, 38:354–362.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Treanor WJ, Moberg E, Buncke HJ (1992) The hyperflexed seemingly useless tetraplegic hand: a method of surgical amelioration. Paraplegia, 30:457–466.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Kanagal SG, Muir GD (2007) Bilateral dorsal funicular lesions alter sensorimotor behaviour in rats. Experimental Neurology, 205:513–524.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Krajacic A, Ghosh M, PUentes R, Pearse DD, Fouad K (2009) Advantages of delaying the onset of rehabilitative reaching training in rats with incomplete spinal cord injury. European Journal of Neuroscience, 29:641–651.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Krajacic A, Weishaupt N, Girgis J, Tetzlaff W, Fouad K (2010) Training-induced plasticity in rats with cervical spinal cord injury: effects and side effects. Behavioural Brain Research, 214:323–331.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. McKenna JE & Whishaw IQ (1999) Complete compensation in skilled reaching success with associated impairments in limb synergies, after dorsal column lesion in the rat. The Journal of Neuroscience, 1885–1894.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada

    Jenni M. Karl & Ian Q. Whishaw

Authors
  1. Jenni M. Karl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ian Q. Whishaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jenni M. Karl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Welsh School of Pharmacology, Cardiff University, Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, United Kingdom

    Emma L. Lane

  2. School of Biosciences, Brain Repair Group, Cardiff University, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, United Kingdom

    Stephen B. Dunnett

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this protocol

Cite this protocol

Karl, J.M., Whishaw, I.Q. (2011). Rodent Skilled Reaching for Modeling Pathological Conditions of the Human Motor System. In: Lane, E., Dunnett, S. (eds) Animal Models of Movement Disorders. Neuromethods, vol 61. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-298-4_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-298-4_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-297-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-298-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation