Stroke is a representative hemiplegia disease. Using a gerbils model (n = 6) divided into three groups, a control group without stroke (cont, n = 2), and 7-day (7 days, n = 2) and 14-day (14 days, n = 2) groups with right cerebral ischemia, we extracted the soleus muscle of the paralyzed side (left). We evaluated the mechanism underlying the stroke-induced muscle injury by using synchrotron radiation phase-contrast imaging (SR-PCI). We succeeded in quantifying the degree of injury by dividing the muscle space and fiber region. The analysis of the space volumes of cont and 7 days revealed an increase in volume (p<.05). The space region increased according to the period of evaluation and a very large difference was found both between 7 days and 14 days after stroke (p<.01) and cont and 14 days (p<.01). In addition, regression analysis showed a positive correlation with increasing space according to the evaluation period (r2 = .97). We found that the fiber region had increased damage at 7 days than in the control (p<.05). Subsequently, the characteristic of muscle tissue recovery after stroke was observed at 14 days instead of 7 days (p<.05). Therefore, by establishing the possibility of animal study using SR-PCI, we expect that it will be possible to present a protocol for gait training of clinical patients that can improve their qualitative exercise ability by synthesizing the recovery period.
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