Recovery of function in spinalized, neonatal rats.
Neonatal rats, when spinalized on the fourteenth postnatal day, showed minimal recovery of function in their hindlimbs. Bridging the cut spinal cord with E16 fetal spinal cord tissue did not improve functional recovery. Bridging, plus treatment with GM1 ganglioside, caused a significant (p less than 0.05) improvement in function, versus the bridged animals treated with saline. The E16 spinal cord transplants survived poorly, or not at all. Contact of the hindlimbs with a surface is necessary to elicit function. Regrowth of descending fibers into the caudal region of the cord is probably not involved in functional recovery. It is suggested that functional recovery is mediated by hindlimb proprioceptive afferents, which activate the lumbosacral motor central pattern generator.
Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J W
JW
Commissiong
Y
Y
Sauve
K
K
Csonka
F
F
Karoum
G
G
Toffano
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation / Q000502:physiology; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000294:innervation*; D009043:Motor Activity; D009132:Muscles / Q000294:innervation; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology* / Q000637:transplantation
D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside