Górska Teresa, Chojnicka-Gittins Barbara, Majczyński Henryk, Zmysłowski Wojciech
Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Behav Brain Res. 2009 Jan 23;196(2):286-96. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.09.019. Epub 2008 Oct 2.
In six rats with incomplete low thoracic spinal cord lesions of different extent, basic gait indices such as locomotor speed, step cycle duration, soleus (Sol) muscle activity duration, the interval between the onsets of Sol and tibialis anterior (TA) muscle activities and interlimb coordination were investigated by EMG analysis of the Sol and TA muscles recorded using chronic electrodes. The operated animals were divided into two subgroups: (1) those with a smaller lesion involving the dorsal quadrants of the spinal cord and, to a variable extent, the ventrolateral funiculi, and (2) those with an extensive lesion sparing only parts of the ventral funiculi. The locomotion of all rats was tested once a week for the first 5 weeks postsurgery and then once or twice a month, up to 3.5 months. The surgical lesions affected all analyzed gait indices: the locomotor speed decreased, while all other indices increased compared to recordings made preoperatively. In both subgroups the major improvement in locomotion occurred within the first 5 weeks following surgery and the rats reached a plateau in their recovery at around 2 months postoperatively. The late effects of injury depended on the severity of the spinal lesion: in the subgroup of rats with a smaller lesion, the postoperative changes in the different indices amounted to approximately 20%, while in the subgroup with extensive lesions this was increased by 20-50%, with changes in various indices being strongly correlated with the extent of the injury in individual animals. These postoperative changes were partly due to alterations in the relationships between the analyzed variables.
在6只胸段脊髓下部存在不同程度不完全损伤的大鼠中，通过使用慢性电极记录比目鱼肌（Sol）和胫骨前肌（TA）的肌电图分析，研究了诸如运动速度、步周期持续时间、比目鱼肌活动持续时间、比目鱼肌和胫骨前肌活动起始之间的间隔以及肢体间协调性等基本步态指标。将手术动物分为两个亚组：（1）损伤较小的亚组，其脊髓背侧象限以及不同程度的腹外侧索受到损伤；（2）损伤广泛的亚组，仅保留部分腹侧索。在术后的前5周，每周对所有大鼠的运动情况进行一次测试，然后每月进行一次或两次测试，直至3.5个月。手术损伤影响了所有分析的步态指标：与术前记录相比，运动速度降低，而所有其他指标增加。在两个亚组中，运动的主要改善都发生在手术后的前5周内，并且大鼠在术后约2个月时恢复达到平台期。损伤的后期影响取决于脊髓损伤的严重程度：在损伤较小的大鼠亚组中，不同指标的术后变化约为20%，而在损伤广泛的亚组中，这一变化增加了20 - 50%，各个指标的变化与个体动物的损伤程度密切相关。这些术后变化部分归因于分析变量之间关系的改变。
