title: Female Rats Demonstrate Improved Locomotor Recovery and Greater Preservation of White and Gray Matter after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Compared to Males.
abstract: The possibility of a gender-related difference in recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) remains a controversial subject. Current empirical animal research lacks sizable test groups to definitively determine whether significant differences exist. Evaluating locomotor recovery variances between sexes following a precise, clinically relevant spinal cord contusion model can provide valuable insight into a possible gender-related advantage in outcome post-SCI. In the current study, we hypothesized that by employing larger sample sizes in a reproducible contusive SCI paradigm, subtle distinctions in locomotor recovery between sexes, if they exist, would be elucidated through a broad range of behavioral tests. During 13 weeks of functional assessment after a thoracic (T8) contusive SCI in rat, significant differences owing to gender existed for the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan score and CatWalk hindlimb swing, support four, and single stance analyses. Significant differences in locomotor performance were noticeable as early as 4 weeks post-SCI. Stereological tissue-volume analysis determined that females, more so than males, also exhibited greater volumes of preserved gray and white matter within the injured cord segment as well as more spared ventral white matter area at the center of the lesion. The stereological tissue analysis differences favoring females directly correlated with the female rats' greater functional improvement observed at endpoint.
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Jeffrey P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Datto
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Johana C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bastidas
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Nicole L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: 2 The Departments of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Kristopher L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Arheart
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Alexander E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Marcillo
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|3 The Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|4 The Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|5 The Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|6 The Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: W Dalton
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Dietrich
authors.affiliation: 1 The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|3 The Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|6 The Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.|7 The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Damien D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Pearse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: BBB; CatWalk; GridWalk; gender; spinal cord injury