Mild to Moderate Early Exercise Promotes Recovery from Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Someone should be easily able to take this and either create what the 4 classes of exercise would look like in humans. Or just set up similar research in humans, I'm sure you could get enough volunteers. And the help for survivors could be substantial. If I'd known about this right after my stroke I would have created something. Who cares if it has only been tested in rats? Whats the downside?
http://cjns.metapress.com/content/q9683tu582400812/

Abstract

Objective: We examined the effects of various exercise intensities on recovery from middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats. Methods: First, we administered a 120-minute left MCAO to male Sprague-Dawley rats and randomly assigned them to one of four groups: no exercise (Group 1), mild exercise (Group 2), moderate exercise (Group 3), and severe exercise (Group 4). Then, we trained the rats for 30 min per day for one week or two weeks. We used a five-point neurological evaluation scale to measure neurological deficits 1-day, 4-days, 7-days, 10-days and 14-days after MCAO and measured infarct volume by use of 2% 2,3,4-triphenyltetrazolium chloride in exercised brains. We also performed immunohistochemistry analysis of the brain to observe reactive astrocytosis at the peri-infarct region. Results: Neurological examination indicated that Group 2 and 3 recovered better than Group 1 after one week and two weeks (p<0.05). Moreover, Group 2 and 3 had reduced brain infarct volume compared with Group 1 after one week (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between Group 4 and Group 1. The thickness of the peri-infarct astrocytosis was significantly reduced in Group 4 relative to Group 1 after one week. There was a significant negative correlation between the extent of reactive astrocytosis and neurological recovery (r= -0.648, p<0.01). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that mild to moderate exercise that begins soon after induced cerebral ischemia promotes recovery and that astrocytes may have an important role in the recovery process.