The Preclinical Application of the Tactile Discrimination Task in Rat Models

S-.H. Wu,^1,2 C-.J. Wen,^1,2 J-.J. Huang,^1,2,3 Y-.C. Pei,^1,2,3 C-.H. Lin,^1,2,4,5 H. Cheng,¹ Z-.L. Peng,^1,4,5 H-.I. Yang,⁶ F-.C. Wei.^1,2,5

¹Center for Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
²College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
³Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
⁴Division of Trauma and Emergency Plastic Surgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
⁵Division of Plastic Reconstructive Microsurgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
⁶Department of Electronic Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.

Meeting: 2018 American Transplant Congress

Abstract number: B369

Keywords: Nerve allografts, Preclinical trails, Rat

Session Information

Session Name: Poster Session B: VCA

Session Type: Poster Session

Date: Sunday, June 3, 2018

Session Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm

Presentation Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm

Location: Hall 4EF

Nerve reinnervation is an important issue in the field of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA). However, nowadays the effective treatment for enhancing the reinnervation after the reconstructive surgery is still limited. Developing an appropriate preclinical platform, which provides a reliable method for assessing the functional recovery after the surgical intervention in animal models, will help scientists discover potential treatments improving the regeneration of the peripheral nerves in VCA. Here we designed a two-alternative forced choice task for evaluating the sensory function of the rat vibrissal system. In this task, the rat had to use its whisker to discriminate the target texture (P60 sandpaper) from two tactile stimuli presented simultaneously to get the reward. The proportion of correct detections (Pc) for the target discrimination would be calculated after 60 sequential trials, and repeatedly measured for 3~4 times per week. We found that the Pc of each rat could reach 80~90% after 1 month training, but decreased to near 50% (i.e. random choice) when the infraorbital nerve (sensory nerve) was surgically removed. Furthermore, the decrease of Pc did not occur after removing the motor nerve. This preliminary result suggests our tactile discrimination task is able to reflect the state of the sensory function of the rat vibrissal system under the surgical intervention. The advantage of our behavior task is it evaluates the discriminative sensation, which is more clinically and psychologically meaningful than the index derived from the protective sensation (e.g. pain, thermal) In addition, the process of rats' active detection of stimulus is similar to rehabilitation, so this experiment has potential to serve as the animal model for rehabilitation. Future work will focus on tracking the recovery pattern of rats with the reversible sensory nerve injury and VCA rat models.

CITATION INFORMATION: Wu S-.H., Wen C-.J., Huang J-.J., Pei Y-.C., Lin C-.H., Cheng H., Peng Z-.L., Yang H-.I., Wei F-.C. The Preclinical Application of the Tactile Discrimination Task in Rat Models Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Wu S-H, Wen C-J, Huang J-J, Pei Y-C, Lin C-H, Cheng 5H, Peng Z-L, Yang H-I, Wei F-C. The Preclinical Application of the Tactile Discrimination Task in Rat Models [abstract]. https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/the-preclinical-application-of-the-tactile-discrimination-task-in-rat-models/. Accessed May 9, 2025.

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