Translating experimental evidence to finding novel ways to promote motor recovery in stroke patients – a review

Recent advances in basic research have revealed the complex structural plasticity associated with the spontaneous motor recovery after stroke. Various rehabilitative interventions seem to act through the same repair mechanisms to further enhance recovery processes. In this review, we first summarize the current understanding on brain plasticity and repair after stroke. We then outline experimental approaches for studying stroke rehabilitation in rodents and review current rehabilitative practices in stroke patients. Although experimental approaches are valuable in providing details regarding mechanisms and proof-of-concept data, relatively modest treatment effects in stroke patients highlight the translational gap. Further studies will be needed to find optimal treatment paradigms through emerging knowledge of brain repair, whilst appreciating the important differences between rodent and patient studies that complicate the translation of experimental data.