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Effects of botulinum toxin type A combined with exercise on the functional recovery after spinal cord injury
Author(s) -
Jin Yunho,
Sumsuzzman Dewan Mohammed,
Hong Yonggeun
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.545.25
Subject(s) - spinal cord injury , spasticity , medicine , motor neuron , gastrocnemius muscle , spinal cord , endocrinology , anesthesia , skeletal muscle , psychiatry
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a result of a traumatic damage of the vertebral column. This injury interrupts the signal conduction from upper motor neuron to lower motor neuron and spasticity may occur. Spasticity is common motor dysfunction induced from upper motor neuron lesions. Botulinum toxin type A (BTA) can inhibit muscle contraction as well as acetylcholine release by without affection to acetylcholine synthesis. Treadmill exercise (Ex) is known to reduce body and fat mass resulting improvement of neuroplasticity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of BTA combined with treadmill exercise after SCI. Experimental animals were divided into three groups; SCI, SCI+BTA, SCI+BTA+Ex. BTA was injected into the gastrocnemius of SCI+BTA and SCI+BTA+Ex rats. And, SCI+BTA+Ex rats were assigned to treadmill exercise. After 14 postoperative day, all animals were sacrificed to perform further analyses. SCI+BTA+Ex group showed the greatest decrease of body weight and gastrocnemius mass. Also, BTA‐injected groups underwent significantly decreased muscle degradation compared to non‐injected group. Similarly, BTA treated muscle showed increased levels of autophagy markers. Especially, both beclin‐1 and LC3 were increased in the gastrocnemius of SCI+BTA+Ex group. Interestingly, this group showed the highest motor functioning scores. In addition, by light microscopy, several vacuoles were observed in the muscle fibers of SCI group rats, indicating delayed functional recovery. In this study, BTA is thought to have slight spasticity‐alleviating effect, and this effect is extended by combination of treadmill exercise. Support or Funding Information Funds: NRF‐2017R1A2A2A01067169, KGM4611714 This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .