title: Fluoxetine treatment promotes functional recovery in a rat model of cervical spinal cord injury.
abstract: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe condition leading to enduring motor deficits. When lesions are incomplete, promoting spinal cord plasticity might be a useful strategy to elicit functional recovery. Here we investigated whether long-term fluoxetine administration in the drinking water, a treatment recently demonstrated to optimize brain plasticity in several pathological conditions, promotes motor recovery in rats that received a C4 dorsal funiculus crush. We show that fluoxetine administration markedly improved motor functions compared to controls in several behavioral paradigms. The improved functional effects correlated positively with significant sprouting of intact corticospinal fibers and a modulation of the excitation/inhibition balance. Our results suggest a potential application of fluoxetine treatment as a non invasive therapeutic strategy for SCI-associated neuropathologies.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience CNR, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scali
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Begenisic
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mainardi
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milanese
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bonifacino
authors.forename: Giambattista
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonanno
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sale
authors.forename: Lamberto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maffei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005684:Gait / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000187:drug effects; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000187:drug effects*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005473:Fluoxetine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors