Cervical injuries are the most common form of SCI. In this study, we used a neuromodulatory approach to promote skilled movement recovery and repair of the corticospinal tract (CST) after a moderately severe C4 midline contusion in adult rats. We used bilateral epidural intermittent theta burst (iTBS) electrical stimulation of motor cortex to promote CST axonal sprouting and cathodal trans-spin...

Currently, methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) is the standard treatment following acute spinal cord injury (SCI) as a consequence of the results obtained from the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Studies. However, many have questioned the efficacy of MPSS because of its marginal effects. Additionally there has been criticism of both study design and statistical interpretation. The func...

We previously reported that brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a pronociceptive neurotransmitter, induces synaptic facilitation of EPSC in lamina II neurons of neonatal rats up to P14 in an NMDA-receptor dependent manner (Garraway et al. 2003). Here we used the patch-clamp technique to study synaptic and NMDA-evoked responses in transverse spinal slices in the lumbar enlargement as well ...

The Role of Stress in Recovery of Function after Spinal Cord Injury. (August 2007) Stephanie Nicole Washburn, B.S.; M.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. James W. Grau Research has shown that exposure to just 6 minutes of uncontrollable shock 24 hours following contusion injury impairs locomotor recovery and leads to greater tissue loss at the injury epicenter. Uncontrolla...

Primary damage to the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) is a nearly universal consequence of spinal cord injury that contributes significantly to the overall pathology, including the introduction of reactive species that induce cytotoxicity as well as secondary insults on the BSCB itself. We have characterized quantitatively the extent and severity of primary, physical disruption of the BSCB in ...

Background: Animal spinal cord injury (SCI) models have provided a better perception of the mechanisms related to traumatic SCI and evaluation effectiveness experimental therapeutic interventions. Objectives: The aim this study is develop cost-effective modified Allen's device induce contusive injury. Methods: Adult male Wistar rats were subjected using customized weight drop model through 10-g...

BACKGROUND Chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) can lead to an insidious decline in motor and sensory function in individuals even years after the initial injury and is accompanied by a slow and progressive cytoarchitectural destruction. At present, no pathological mechanisms satisfactorily explain the ongoing degeneration. METHODS Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized laminectomized...

Our recent terminal experiments revealed that administration of a single train of repetitive spinal electromagnetic stimulation (sEMS; 35 min) enhanced synaptic plasticity in spinal circuitry following lateral hemisection spinal cord injury. In the current study, we have examined effects of repetitive sEMS applied as a single train and chronically (5 wk, every other day) following thoracic T10 ...

Schwann cell transplantation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy each promote recovery from spinal cord injury, but it remains unclear whether their combination improves therapeutic results more than monotherapy. To investigate this, we used Schwann cell transplantation via the tail vein, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or their combination, in rat models of spinal cord contusion injury. The combined trea...