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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: METHODS, OBJECTIVE, METHODS, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Animals, Biocompatible Materials, Biomarkers, Electron Transport Complex IV, Energy Metabolism, Female, Gait Disorders, Neurologic, Hindlimb, Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate, Locomotion, Muscle, Skeletal, Muscular Atrophy, Nerve Regeneration, Paraplegia, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Recovery of Function, Spinal Cord, Spinal Cord Injuries, Treatment Outcome.
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Does transplantation of porous tubes following spinal cord transection improve hindlimb function in the rat? Context: Experimental. To determine the effects of a porous tube transplant in spinal cord transected rats. Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. Female rats were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: control (Con, n=8), spinal cord transected (Tx, n=5) and spinal cord transected with transplant (TxTp, n=7). The rats in the TxTp and Tx groups received a complete spinal cord transection at the T10 level and the TxTp group immediately received a porous tube transplant. Locomotor activity rated on the Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan scale improved significantly in the TxTp animals over the 4 weeks such that final scores were 21, 1.4 and 7.1 for the Con, Tx and TxTp groups, respectively. As expected, the muscle to body mass ratios of the hindlimb skeletal muscles of the Tx group were decreased (soleus 35%, plantaris 29% and gastrocnemius 29%) and this was also observed in the TxTp group (soleus 33%, plantaris 23% and gastrocnemius 30%). Cytochrome c oxidase (CYTOX) activity in the plantaris was decreased by Tx but maintained in the TxTp group (Con=82.2, Tx=44.8 and TxTp=72.8 U/min/g).
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Four weeks after the spinal cord transection, plantaris CYTOX activity and locomotor function improved with porous tube implantation. Final Decision: yes