Chinese Journal Of Clinical Anatomy ›› 2018, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (3): 299-303.doi: 10.13418/j.issn.1001-165x.2018.03.012

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Effect of passive movement on hind limb motor function and skeletal muscle in rats with spinal cord injury

YANG Xuan 1, LI Xian 2, ZHANG Peng 3, LIN Sen 3, YU Hong-yu1   

  1. 1. College of Nursing, Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou 121000, Liaoning Province, China; 2. Department of Orthopedics, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou 121000, Liaoning Province, China; 3. Department of Orthopedics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou 121000, Liaoning Province, China
  • Received:2017-12-26 Online:2018-05-25 Published:2018-07-04

Abstract:

Objective To observe the effect of passive motion on the recovery of the motor function of the hind limbs and the improvement of the skeletal muscle atrophy in the rats with spinal cord injury(SCI), and to explore the effect of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on the functional recovery of passive motion and the treatment of muscular atrophy. Methods 36 healthy adult female SD rats were randomly divided into a sham operation group, a control group (no exercise), and a passive exercise group (1 week after injury, passive motion, for 4 weeks). A modified Allen’s method was used to establish the spinal cord injury model. The rats' motor function was detected by the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) behavior score of rats at 1 d, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 week after SCI. HE staining was used to compare the pathological changes of spinal cord tissue in each group, and the cross section area, diameter and morphology of the gastrocnemius muscle in the hind limbs of the rats were observed. The wet weight of gastrocnemius, weight, and muscle weight / weight were measured. The expression of BDNF in the gastrocnemius muscle was detected by Western blots.   Results The motor function of passive movement group was significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). After SCI 5 weeks, the spinal cord tissue of the control group and passive movement group lost normal morphology, the number of neurons were reduced, a large number of cysts were formed in lesion area, but passive movement group were better than the control group when it came to the above mentioned parameters. The gastrocnemius muscle weight, muscle weight / body weight, cross-sectional area and diameter were smaller in the control group. Therefore the passive movement group improved the situation of muscle atrophy (P<0.05). Compared with sham operation group, the expression of BDNF in control group and passive movement group gastrocnemius muscle were increased (P<0.05), and it was higher in gastrocnemius muscle of the passive movement group than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Passive motion might promote the recovery of motor function and improve the atrophy of denervated muscle by increasing BDNF in the gastrocnemius muscle after SCI.

Key words: Spinal cord injury; Passive motion; Muscular atrophy; Brain derived neurotrophic factor; , Rat