The Effects of Different Rehabilitation Strategies on the Functional Recovery of Spinal Cord Injured Rats

Abstract

An experimental study. To investigate the effects of different rehabilitation strategies on functional recovery of partial spinal cord of injured rats. Activity-based rehabilitation is promising strategy for improving functional recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI). Twenty-four female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 180 to 220 g were anesthetized with chloral hydrate (450 mg kg⁻¹) by intraperitoneal injection, and laminectomy was performed at T7-T8 level, leaving the dura intact. A compression plate (2.2 × 5.0 mm) loaded with weight of 35 g was placed on the exposed cord for 5 minutes to create partial SCI. Animals were divided into 3 groups of 8 rats each. Group 1 served as control (SCI + without treadmill and swimming training). Whereas rats in Groups 2 and 3 were subjected to SCI as mentioned previously and received swimming training 5 minutes for Group 2 and treadmill training 5 minutes for Group 3 each day, which occurred beginning 14 days postsurgery and continued for 14 days. The spontaneous coordinate activity (SCA), Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB), and Tarlov locomotor scores were used to assess functional recovery of spinal cord injured rats. Day 1 (baseline, 14 days after the surgery), there was no significant difference among the means for SCA, BBB, and Tarlov scores of all groups. After day 1, Groups 1, 2, and 3 showed continuous improvement in their BBB, Tarlov, and SCA scores. This improvement was maintained throughout the duration of the study with different levels for each group. By the end of the study, trained Groups 2 and 3 showed statistically significant improvement in their SCA, BBB, and Tarlov scores compared with Group 1 (P < 0.05). These results suggest that 2 weeks of treadmill locomotor training and swimming training may have positive effects on functional recovery after partial SCI.