title: The effects of treadmill training on young and mature rats after traumatic peripheral nerve lesion.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effects of a treadmill training program on regeneration in young (3-month-old) and mature (13-month-old) rats with sciatic nerve crush using functional, electrophysiological, and morphometric analyses. When compared to both the young and mature untrained injury groups, those groups that underwent a treadmill training showed improved sensorimotor function evaluated by narrow beam test (p<0.04 and p<0.001, respectively), while muscle action potential amplitude was only greater in the young group (p<0.02). The treadmill training program was able to reduce myelinated fiber density in the young group (p<0.001), which appeared to increase after nerve injury (poly-innervation), but decreased with training, which means that the innervation became more functional. The data indicate that treadmill training is able to promote functional, electrophysiological and morphological recovery in young animals. However, in mature animals, improvement was only seen in terms of functional recovery.
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Neurociências, Departamento de Ciências Morfológicas, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Núbia Broetto
authors: NB
authors: Cunha
authors: Jocemar
authors: J
authors: Ilha
authors: Lígia Aline
authors: LA
authors: Centenaro
authors: Gisele Agustini
authors: GA
authors: Lovatel
authors: Luciane Fachin
authors: LF
authors: Balbinot
authors: Matilde
authors: M
authors: Achaval
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D009409:Nerve Crush; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000502:physiology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000293:injuries* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome