Poststroke Treatment

Abstract

See related article, pages 294–302. Stroke research has primarily focused on prevention and acute treatment. Yet, there is a window of opportunity to provide treatments that will increase functional recovery by capitalizing on the brain’s neural plastic responses during postacute and chronic periods.1,2 Papadopoulos and colleagues’ study in this issue of Stroke is consistent with decades of research demonstrating that coupling of D-amphetamine administration with motor practice can enhance motor recovery after brain injury in animal models.3,4 This study elegantly shows that short-term, postacute administration of D-amphetamine sulfate combined with focused physical activity and housing in an “enriched” environment improves motor recovery markedly. These improvements are associated with increased axonal sprouting in corticoefferent pathways to the red nucleus and cervical spinal cord from …