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Author Notes:

Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: A. W. English, Dept. of Cell Biology, Emory Univ. School of Medicine, 615 Michael St., Rm. 405P, Atlanta, GA 30322 (e-mail: medae@emory.edu).

Author contributions: T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. performed experiments; T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. analyzed data; T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. interpreted results of experiments; T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. prepared figures; T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. drafted manuscript; T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. edited and revised manuscript; T.B., M.I., K.M., J.N., K.P., S.J.R., E.W., and A.W.E. approved final version of manuscript; J.N., S.J.R., and A.W.E. conception and design of research.

The authors thank Dr. Michael Kutner for advice and help with all of the statistical methods used. Dr. Manning Sabatier read and commented on earlier versions of this paper, and his help is greatly appreciated.

No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the author(s).

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This work was supported by grant HD032571 from the US Public Health Service.

Keywords:

  • exercise
  • axon regeneration
  • peripheral nerve

Effects of treadmill training on functional recovery following peripheral nerve injury in rats

Tools:

Journal Title:

Journal of Neurophysiology

Volume:

Volume 109, Number 11

Publisher:

, Pages 2645-2657

Type of Work:

Article | Post-print: After Peer Review

Abstract:

Exercise, in the form of moderate daily treadmill training following nerve transection and repair leads to enhanced axon regeneration, but its effect on functional recovery is less well known. Female rats were exercised by walking continuously, at a slow speed (10 m/min), for 1 h/day on a level treadmill, beginning 3 days after unilateral transection and surgical repair of the sciatic nerve, and conducted 5 days/wk for 2 wk. In Trained rats, both direct muscle responses to tibial nerve stimulation and H reflexes in soleus reappeared earlier and increased in amplitude more rapidly over time than in Untrained rats. The efficacy of the restored H reflex was greater in Trained rats than in Untrained controls. The reinnervated tibialis anterior and soleus were coactivated during treadmill locomotion in Untrained rats. In Trained animals, the pattern of activation of soleus, but not tibialis anterior, was not significantly different from that found in Intact rats. The overall length of the hindlimb during level and up- and downslope locomotion was conserved after nerve injury in both groups. This conservation was achieved by changes in limb orientation. Limb length was conserved effectively in all rats during downslope walking but only in Trained rats during level and upslope walking. Moderate daily exercise applied immediately after sciatic nerve transection is sufficient to promote axon regeneration, to restore muscle reflexes, and to improve the ability of rats to cope with different biomechanical demands of slope walking.

Copyright information:

© 2013 the American Physiological Society

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