Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, China Medical University, Taichung 406040, Taiwan.
Kao-An Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic, Taichung 40763, Taiwan.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 21;23(3):1178. doi: 10.3390/ijms23031178.
Brachial plexus avulsion (BPA) causes peripheral nerve injury complications with motor and sensory dysfunction of the upper limb. Growing evidence has shown an active role played by cold-water swimming (CWS) in alleviating peripheral neuropathic pain and functional recovery. This study examined whether CWS could promote functional recovery and pain modulation through the reduction of neuroinflammation and microglial overactivation in dorsal horn neurons at the early-stage of BPA. After BPA surgery was performed on rats, they were assigned to CWS or sham training for 5 min twice a day for two weeks. Functional behavioral responses were tested before and after BPA surgery, and each week during training. Results after the two-week training program showed significant improvements in BPA-induced motor and sensory loss ( < 0.05), lower inflammatory cell infiltration, and vacuole formation in injured nerves among the BPA-CWS group. Moreover, BPA significantly increased the expression of SP and IBA1 in dorsal horn neurons ( < 0.05), whereas CWS prevented their overexpression in the BPA-CWS group. The present findings evidenced beneficial rehabilitative effects of CWS on functional recovery and pain modulation at early-stage BPA. The beneficial effects are partially related to inflammatory suppression and spinal modulation. The synergistic role of CWS combined with other management approaches merits further investigation.
臂丛神经撕脱伤（BPA）导致上肢运动和感觉功能障碍的周围神经损伤并发症。越来越多的证据表明，冷水游泳（CWS）在缓解周围神经性疼痛和功能恢复方面起着积极作用。本研究探讨了 CWS 是否可以通过减少背角神经元中的神经炎症和小胶质细胞过度激活来促进 BPA 早期的功能恢复和疼痛调节。在大鼠进行 BPA 手术后，将它们分为 CWS 或假训练组，每天进行两次、每次 5 分钟，持续两周。在 BPA 手术后和训练期间的每周都进行功能行为反应测试。两周训练计划后的结果显示，BPA-CWS 组在 BPA 诱导的运动和感觉丧失方面有显著改善（<0.05），受损神经中的炎症细胞浸润和空泡形成减少。此外，BPA 显著增加了背角神经元中 SP 和 IBA1 的表达（<0.05），而 CWS 则阻止了它们在 BPA-CWS 组中的过度表达。本研究结果表明，CWS 在 BPA 早期对功能恢复和疼痛调节具有有益的康复作用。这种有益的效果部分与炎症抑制和脊髓调节有关。CWS 与其他管理方法的协同作用值得进一步研究。
