Enhanced Voluntary Exercise Improves Functional Recovery following Spinal Cord Injury by Impacting the Local Neuroglial Injury Response and Supporting the Rewiring of Supraspinal Circuits
Abstract
Recent reports suggest that rehabilitation measures that increase physical activity of patients can improve functional outcome after incomplete spinal cord injuries (iSCI). To investigate the structural basis of exercise-induced recovery, we examined local and remote consequences of voluntary wheel training in spinal cord injured female mice. In particular, we explored how enhanced voluntary exercise influences the neuronal and glial response at the lesion site as well as the rewiring of supraspinal tracts after iSCI. We chose voluntary exercise initiated by providing mice with free access to running wheels over “forced overuse” paradigms because the latter, at least in some cases, can lead to worsening of functional outcomes after SCI. Our results show that mice extensively use their running wheels not only before but also after injury reaching their pre-lesion exercise levels within five days after injury. Enhanced voluntary exercise improved their overall and skilled motor function after injury. In addition, exercising mice started to recover earlier and reached better sustained performance levels. These improvements in motor performance are accompanied by early changes of axonal and glial response at the lesion site and persistent enhancements of the rewiring of supraspinal connections that resulted in a strengthening of both indirect and direct inputs to lumbar motoneurons.
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Published In
Journal of Neurotrauma
Volume 35 • Issue Number 24 • December 15, 2018
Pages: 2904 - 2915
PubMed: 29943672
Copyright
Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
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Published in print: December 15, 2018
Published online: 13 December 2018
Published ahead of print: 10 August 2018
Published ahead of production: 26 June 2018
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