title: Gait recovery following spinal cord injury in mice: Limited effect of treadmill training.
abstract: Several studies in rodents with complete spinal cord transections have demonstrated that treadmill training improves stepping movements. However, results from studies in incomplete spinal cord injured animals have been conflicting and questions regarding the training dosage after injury remain unresolved.
  
  
  
  To assess the effects of treadmill-training regimen (20 minutes daily, 5 days a week) for 3, 6 or 9 weeks on the recovery of locomotion in hemisected SCI mice.
  
  
  
  A randomized and blinded controlled experimental trial used a mouse model of incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). After a left hemisection at T10, adult male mice were randomized to trained or untrained groups. The trained group commenced treadmill training one week after surgery and continued for 3, 6 or 9 weeks. Quantitative kinematic gait analysis was used to assess the spatiotemporal characteristics of the left hindlimb prior to injury and at 1, 4, 7 and 10 weeks post-injury.
  
  
  
  One week after injury there was no movement of the left hindlimb and some animals dragged their foot. Treadmill training led to significant improvements in step duration, but had limited effect on the hindlimb movement pattern. Locomotor improvements in trained animals were most evident at the hip and knee joints whereas recovery of ankle movement was limited, even after 9 weeks of treadmill training.
  
  
  
  These results demonstrate that treadmill training may lead to only modest improvement in recovery of hindlimb movement after incomplete spinal cord injury in mice.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital) , The University of Melbourne , VIC , Australia.
authors.forename: Camila R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Battistuzzo
authors.affiliation: b School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine , The University of Newcastle , Callaghan , NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rank
authors.affiliation: b School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine , The University of Newcastle , Callaghan , NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Jamie R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital) , The University of Melbourne , VIC , Australia.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: b School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine , The University of Newcastle , Callaghan , NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Callister
authors.affiliation: b School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine , The University of Newcastle , Callaghan , NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Callister
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital) , The University of Melbourne , VIC , Australia.
authors.forename: Mary P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Galea
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005684:Gait; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012420:Running; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: Exercise; Hemisection; Locomotion; Spinal cord injury; Treadmill