Cerebral ischemia, locomotor activity and spatial mapping.

A 5-min bilateral occlusion of the carotid arteries produced large increases in gerbil locomotor activity that persisted for a week of daily testing after the ischemic episode. In a second group of animals, 5 days of pre-exposure to the open-field prior to inducing ischemia blocked the development of increased locomotor activation. These results suggest that the increased locomotor activity resulting from cerebral ischemic damage is not a simple form of motor hyperactivity. Instead, this change in behavior may represent a reduction of the ischemic animal's ability to form spatial maps.