title: Influence of Sexuality in Functional Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury in Rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a major clinical condition and research is commonly done to find suitable treatment options. However, there are some degrees of spontaneous recovery after SCI and gender is said to be a contributing factor in recovery, but this is controversial. This study was done to compare the effects of sexual dimorphism on spontaneous recovery after spinal cord injury in Wistar Rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spinal cord lesions were made by compressing the cord at T9 level and making a spinal cord contusion. Routine care of each rat was done daily. The LSS scoring system was used to measure the locomotion of these rats and to compare the recovery rate between male and female rats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results suggested that there was no significant difference between the two sex in recovery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To be female does not seem to be a prognostic factor for recovery after SCI. However, this preliminary study should be repeated in other animals and in larger cohorts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emamhadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Parvin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Babaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mashhadinezhad
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Shervin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghadarjani
keywords: Gender; Rat; Spinal cord injury; Spontaneous recovery