Epidermal growth factor and erythropoietin infusion accelerate functional recovery in combination with rehabilitation

Background and purpose: Rehabilitation is the only treatment option for chronic stroke deficits, but unfortunately, it often provides incomplete recovery. In this study, a novel combination of growth factor administration and rehabilitation therapy was used to facilitate functional recovery in a rat model of cortical stroke.

Methods: Ischemia was induced via injection of endothelin-1 into the sensorimotor cortex. This was followed by either a 2-week infusion of epidermal growth factor and erythropoietin or artificial cerebrospinal fluid into the ipsilateral lateral ventricle. Two weeks after ischemia, animals began an 8-week enriched rehabilitation program. Functional recovery was assessed after ischemia using the Montoya staircase-reaching task, beam-traversing, and cylinder test of forelimb asymmetry.

Results: The combination of growth factor infusion and rehabilitation led to a significant acceleration in recovery in the staircase task. When compared with controls, animals receiving the combination treatment attained significant recovery of function at 4 weeks after stroke, whereas those receiving rehabilitation alone did not recover until 10 weeks. Significant recovery was also observed on the beam-traversing and cylinder tasks.

Conclusions: Combining behavioral rehabilitation with growth factor infusion accelerates motor recovery. These data suggest a promising new avenue of combination therapies that may have the potential to reduce the rehabilitation time necessary to recover from sensorimotor deficits arising from stroke.