The effects of exercise on locomotor recovery after partial spinal cord injury in a rat model

This study was conducted to examine the potential effects of exercise training on partial spinal cord injury on locomotor recovery in juvenile rats. Three groups were tested, where three female Long-Evans rats 10-12 weeks of age were studied for their locomotion. All animals underwent a T8-T9 laminectomy and two of the three in each group received a dorsal, partial spinal cord injury. Locomotion was then analyzed every week, over 8-10 weeks. One of the two injured animals was given open access to a wheel after 2 weeks for voluntary exercise training. The results of this study suggested that injured animals displayed more irregular stepping patterns, larger hindlimb bases of support, greater and more variable interpaw distances, slower hindlimb speed, and increased dependency of swing-phase duty cycle on hindlimb speed. Trained animals displayed quicker recovery of stepping patterns, stepping of the hindpaw in relation to the preceding ipsilateral forepaw, and higher swing-duty cycle dependency on hindlimb speed in comparison to injured animals that did not receive exercise training. Due to a small sample size, there was a large amount of variation between individual animals in most parameters. These results are considered to be potential effects that may be seen in further study with a larger sample size. The research team will continue the research project to examine changes in neural pathways in the spinal cord and the effects of exercise on recovery after injury.