Bioinformatics analysis of the wheel treadmill test on motor function recovery after spinal cord injury

Surgical decompression is the primary treatment for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) patients with compressive spinal cord injury (CSCI). However, the prognosis of patients with CSCI varies, and the pathophysiological changes following decompression remain poor. This study aimed to investigate the pathophysiological changes and the role of Notch-1 activation after decompression in a rat CSCI model. Surgical decompression was conducted at 1 week post-injury (wpi). DAPT was intraperitoneally injected to down-regulate Notch-1 expression. Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan scores and an inclined plane test were used to evaluate the motor function recovery. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was performed to assess pathophysiological changes, while hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), von Willebrand factor (vWF), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, MMP-2, Notch-1, and Hes-1 expression in the spinal cord were examined by immunohistochemical analysis or quantitative PCR. The results show that early decompression can partially promote motor function recovery. Improvements in structural and cellular damage and hypoxic levels were also observed in the decompressed spinal cord. Moreover, decompression resulted in increased VEGF and vWF expression, but decreased MMP-9 and MMP-2 expression at 3 wpi. Expression levels of Notch-1 and its downstream gene Hes-1 were increased after decompression, and the inhibition of Notch-1 significantly reduced the decompression-induced motor function recovery. This exploratory study revealed preliminary pathophysiological changes in the compressed and decompressed rat spinal cord. Furthermore, we confirmed that early surgical decompression partially promotes motor function recovery may via activation of the Notch-1 signaling pathway after CSCI. These results could provide new insights for the development of drug therapy to enhance recovery following surgery.

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The Effect of Implantation of Neurogeltm Used with Xenogenic Bone Marrow Stem Cells on Motor Function Recovery after Experimental Spinal Cord Injury

INTERNATIONAL NEUROLOGICAL JOURNAL ◽

10.22141/2224-0713.6.84.2016.83117 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 0 (6.84) ◽

pp. 13-19

Author(s):

V.I. Tsymbaliuk ◽

V.V. Medvediev ◽

O.A. Rybachuk ◽

V.I. Kozyavkin ◽

N.G. Draguntsova

Keyword(s):

Spinal Cord ◽

Stem Cells ◽

Bone Marrow ◽

Spinal Cord Injury ◽

Motor Function ◽

Bone Marrow Stem Cells ◽

Experimental Spinal Cord Injury ◽

Function Recovery ◽

Cord Injury ◽

Xenogenic Bone

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Operant conditioning of the motor-evoked potential and locomotion in people with and without chronic incomplete spinal cord injury

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00557.2018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 121 (3) ◽

pp. 853-866 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aiko K. Thompson ◽

Gina Fiorenza ◽

Lindsay Smyth ◽

Briana Favale ◽

Jodi Brangaccio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spinal Cord ◽

Spinal Cord Injury ◽

Operant Conditioning ◽

Motor Function ◽

Evoked Potential ◽

Motor Evoked Potential ◽

Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury ◽

Function Recovery ◽

Cord Injury ◽

Ankle Dorsiflexor

Foot drop is very common among people with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) and likely stems from SCI that disturbs the corticospinal activation of the ankle dorsiflexor tibialis anterior (TA). Thus, if one can recover or increase the corticospinal excitability reduced by SCI, motor function recovery may be facilitated. Here, we hypothesized that in people suffering from weak dorsiflexion due to chronic incomplete SCI, increasing the TA motor-evoked potential (MEP) through operant up-conditioning can improve dorsiflexion during locomotion, while in people without any injuries, it would have little impact on already normal locomotion. Before and after 24 MEP conditioning or control sessions, locomotor electromyography (EMG) and kinematics were measured. This study reports the results of these locomotor assessments. In participants without SCI, locomotor EMG activity, soleus Hoffmann reflex modulation, and joint kinematics did not change, indicating that MEP up-conditioning or repeated single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (i.e., control protocol) does not influence normal locomotion. In participants with SCI, MEP up-conditioning increased TA activity during the swing-to-swing stance transition phases and ankle joint motion during locomotion in the conditioned leg and increased walking speed consistently. In addition, the swing-phase TA activity and ankle joint motion also improved in the contralateral leg. The results are consistent with our hypothesis. Together with the previous operant conditioning studies in humans and rats, the present study suggests that operant conditioning can be a useful therapeutic tool for enhancing motor function recovery in people with SCI and other central nervous system disorders. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study examined the functional impact of operant conditioning of motor-evoked potential (MEP) to transcranial magnetic stimulation that aimed to increase corticospinal excitability for the ankle dorsiflexor tibialis anterior (TA). In people with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI), MEP up-conditioning increased TA activity and improved dorsiflexion during locomotion, while in people without injuries, it had little impact on already normal locomotion. MEP conditioning may potentially be used to enhance motor function recovery after SCI.

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