Abstract :

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and the primary cause of disability. Rehabilitation treatments using exogenous electrical stimulation (ES) have been utilized successfully in a clinical setting, but the precise mechanism of how ES works remain elusive. One of the major challenges has been the absence of a proper model that adequately simulates a pathological stroke condition in vitro. Therefore, in this study, we constructed stroke models using two different strategies to study cellular responses to applied electrical stimulation (ES). First, oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion (OGD-R) was used on spheroids to mimic the stroke conditions. Secondly, we utilized brain slices from a stroke rat model where a focal ischemic event was induced in a single blood vessel by injecting photosensitive dye Rose Bengal. Physiological assessment of cellular responses revealed the compromised neuroplasticity in stroke models, which was partially recovered by electrical stimulation (ES), evidenced by structural changes in neurite morphology and elevated expressions of key markers for neurite change and neuroplasticity.