Optogenetic Stimulation Enhanced Neuronal Plasticities in Motor Recovery after Ischemic Stroke

Table 1

Summary of targeted brain circuits or sites in motor recovery after ischemic stroke using the optogenetic stimulation.

Experimental ischemic stroke model	Target method	Stimulation protocol	Stimulation time course	Recovery onset	Ref.
Mice, transient middle cerebral artery occlusion	Thy-1–ChR2–YFP line-18 transgenic mice which exhibited high levels of ChR2 in layer V of primary motor cortex pyramidal neurons	Activated pyramidal neurons in iM1 with 473 nm blue laser	Poststroke days 5-10, 10 Hz	Significant improvement from day 14	[31]
Mice, transient middle cerebral artery occlusion	Thy-1–ChR2–YFP line-18 transgenic mice	Activated neurons (mainly excitatory neurons) in cLCN with 473 nm blue laser	Poststroke days 5–14, 10 Hz	Significant improvement from day 14.	[39]
Rat, middle cerebral artery occlusion	Injection of a Cre-recombinase-dependent ChR2 vector achieved the specific expression of ChR in corticospinal-projecting neurons	Activated corticospinal projecting neurons specifically expressing ChR2 with 473 nm blue LEDs	Poststroke days 3–14, 10 Hz	Significant improvement from day 21	[9]
Mice, ligations of distal branches of the middle cerebral artery	ChR2 transgenic mice (B6.Cg-Tg (Thy1-COP4/EYFP)18Gfng/J) and ChR2-YFP protein were selectively expressed in the excitatory glutamatergic neurons	Activated glutamatergic neuron in the striatum of the ChR2 transgenic mouse with 473 nm blue laser	Poststroke days 5–10, 10 Hz	Significant improvement from day 3	[58]
Mice, middle cerebral artery occlusion	Gad2-Arch-GFP transgenic mice and Arch-GFP were selectively expressed in GABAergic neurons expressed	Inhibited GABAergic neurons in striatum with 530 nm green laser	Poststroke days 5–14, 10 Hz	Significant improvement from day 14	[54]
Mice, middle cerebral artery occlusion	Injection of AAV2.CaMKII.hChR2(E123A) which drove ChR2 expression in thalamocortical projection neurons	Activated thalamocortical projecting neurons with 475 nm blue light	Poststroke days 3-42, 5 Hz	Significant improvement from day 14	[46].