Forced limb use, which forces the use of the impaired arm following stroke, improves functional recovery. The study was designed to investigate the mechanisms of recovery underlying forced impaired limbuse. Furthermore, forced unimpaired arm use was also performed in order to explore its effect on functional behavior. We hypothesized that forced forelimb use could improve functional recovery in rats that have had an experimentally induced ischemic stroke, through promoting the recruitment and differentiation of the oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). Indeed the proliferation of Olig2 and NG2 positive cells, as well as the expression of myelin basic protein (MBP)were increased in the perilesional striatum, whereas quantitative changes of Olig2+ and NG2+ oligodendrocyte progenitor cells was not observed in the subventricular zone. Through comparing rats forced to rely on affected or unaffected forelimb, the results demonstrated that forced impaired limb use boosted functional recovery. At the same time forced unimpaired limb use deteriorated limb movement of injured side. In addition, the expression of NogoA is reduced, when the injured limb was used more, suggesting that it played a role in the repair of white matter.

强迫肢体使用，在中风后强制使用受损的手臂，可以改善功能恢复。该研究旨在调查强迫性肢体使用障碍的恢复机制。此外，还进行了强迫未受损手臂使用，以探索其对功能行为的影响。我们假设强制使用前肢可以通过促进少突胶质祖细胞 (OPCs) 的募集和分化来改善实验性诱导缺血性中风大鼠的功能恢复。事实上，Olig2 和 NG2 阳性细胞的增殖以及髓鞘碱性蛋白 (MBP) 的表达在病灶周围纹状体中增加，而在脑室下区未观察到 Olig2+ 和 NG2+ 少突胶质祖细胞的数量变化。通过比较被迫依赖受影响或未受影响的前肢的大鼠，结果表明，强迫受损的肢体使用促进了功能恢复。同时强行使用健侧肢体，使伤侧肢体运动恶化。此外，伤肢使用较多时，NogoA的表达降低，提示其在修复白质中发挥了作用。