Journal
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
Volume 517, Issue 2, Pages 245-255Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/cne.22149
Keywords
exercise; motoneurons; retrograde tracing; spinal cord
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Funding
- U.S. Public Health Service [NS057190, HD032571]
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We investigated the extent of misdirection of regenerating axons when that regeneration was enhanced by using treadmill training. Retrograde fluorescent tracers were applied to the cut proximal stumps of the tibial and common fibular nerves 2 or 4 weeks after transection and surgical repair of the mouse sciatic nerve. The spatial locations of retrogradely labeled motoneurons were studied in untreated control mice and in mice receiving 2 weeks of treadmill training, according to either a continuous protocol (10 m/minute, 1 hour/day, 5 days/week) or an interval protocol (20 m/minute for 2 minutes, followed by a 5-minute rest, repeated four times, 5 days/week). More retrogradely labeled motoneurons were found in both treadmill-trained groups. The magnitude of this increase was as great as or greater than that found after using other enhancement strategies. In both treadmill-trained groups, the proportions of motoneurons labeled from tracer applied to the common fibular nerve that were found in spinal cord locations reserved for tibial motoneurons in intact mice were no greater than in untreated control mice and significantly less than those found after electrical stimulation or chondroitinase treatment. Treadmill training in the first 2 weeks following peripheral nerve injury produces a marked enhancement of motor axon regeneration without increasing the propensity of those axons to choose pathways leading to functionally inappropriate targets. J. Comp. Neurol. 517:245-255, 2009. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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