PROGRESSIVE FOCAL NEUROLOGICAL DYSFUNCTION FOLLOWING EXPERIMENTAL IMPLANTATION GLIOMA

ONE of the difficulties in understanding peritumoural brain dysfunctio n is the lack of defined clinical deficits in experimental glioma mode ls. In this study progressive focal neurological dysfunction was measu red using the staircase test in rodents subjected to striatal implanta tion of C-6 glioma cells. After 22 days none of the animals, all of wh ich had cortico-striatal tumours ranging in size from 93 to 140 mm(3), showed any obvious gross behavioural abnormality. However, contralate ral forelimb function was significantly worse than that before surgery by day 7 (p < 0.01) and worse than shamimplanted animals by day 12 (p < 0.01). Using this experimental paradigm the staircase test can be u sed to measure progressive focal neurological deterioration and evalua te both the mechanisms of, and therapies for peritumoural brain dysfun ction.