The effect of weight-bearing exercise and non-weight-bearing exercise on gait in rats with sciatic nerve crush injury

Use of aerobic treadmill exercises on nerve regeneration after sciatic nerve injury in spontaneously hypertensive rats

PURPOSE

Various postoperative protocols have been proposed to improve outcomes and accelerate nerve regeneration. Recently, the use of physical exercise in a post-surgical neurorraphy procedure has shown good results when started early. We experimentally investigated the hypothesis that post-operative exercise speeds up results and improves clinical and morphologic parameters.

METHODS

Isogenic rats were randomly divided into four groups: 1 SHAM; 2 SHAM submitted to the exercise protocol (EP); 3 Grafting of the sciatic nerve; and 4 Grafting of the sciatic nerve associated with the EP. The EP was based on aerobic activities with a treadmill, with a progressive increase in time and intensity during 6 weeks. The results were evaluated by the sciatic functional index (SFI), morphometric and morphologic analysis of nerve distal to the lesion, and the number of spinal cord motor neurons, positive to the marker Fluoro-Gold (FG), captured retrogradely through neurorraphy.

RESULTS

Functional analysis (SFI) did not show a statistical difference between the group grafted with (-50.94) and without exercise (-65.79) after 90 days. The motoneurons count (Spinal cord histology) also showed no diference between these groups (834.5 × 833 respectively). Although functionally there is no difference between these groups, morphometric study showed a greater density (53.62) and larger fibers (7.762) in GRAFT group. When comparing both operated groups with both SHAM groups, all values were much lower.

CONCLUSIONS

The experimental model that this aerobic treadmill exercises protocol did not modify nerve regeneration after sciatic nerve injury and repair with nerve graft.

Effects of swimming exercise on nerve regeneration in a rat sciatic nerve transection model

Background: Swimming is commonly considered to be an efficient rehabilitation exercise to treat peripheral nerve injury. However, the most effective resistance level and exercise duration is still unclear. We investigated the effects and mechanisms of swimming at various exertion levels in a rat sciatic nerve transection model.

Methods: Sciatic nerve transection rats were randomized into the following four groups based on swimming duration (from the 7th day to the 28th day post-surgery): sedentary control group (SC), S10 group (10 min/3 times/week), S20 group (20 min/3 times/week), and S30 group (30 min/3 times/week) (n = 10 each). Axon regeneration, electrophysiological properties, muscular weights, macrophage infiltration, and nerve repair associated maker, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), were measured.

Results: Dramatic higher successful percentages of nerve regeneration across the 10-mm gaps in swimming groups compared to the SC group. Total area of nerve regeneration significantly improved in the S10 group; however, electrophysiological properties, muscular weights, and macrophage infiltration in the regenerated nerves of rats did not differ significantly between the various exercise groups. CGRP expression was significantly increased in the spinal cord of rats in the S20 group.

Conclusions: Our data indicated that CGRP-related axonal regeneration improved significantly with moderate swimming. These results should inspire new studies in physiotherapeutic practice for related human treatment.

Gene targeting of the transcription factor Mohawk in rats causes heterotopic ossification of Achilles tendon via failed tenogenesis

Cell-based or pharmacological approaches for promoting tendon repair are currently not available because the molecular mechanisms of tendon development and healing are not well understood. Although analysis of knockout mice provides many critical insights, small animals such as mice have some limitations. In particular, precise physiological examination for mechanical load and the ability to obtain a sufficient number of primary tendon cells for molecular biology studies are challenging using mice. Here, we generated Mohawk (Mkx)(-/-) rats by using CRISPR/Cas9, which showed not only systemic hypoplasia of tendons similar to Mkx(-/-) mice, but also earlier heterotopic ossification of the Achilles tendon compared with Mkx(-/-) mice. Analysis of tendon-derived cells (TDCs) revealed that Mkx deficiency accelerated chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation, whereas Mkx overexpression suppressed chondrogenic, osteogenic, and adipogenic differentiation. Furthermore, mechanical stretch stimulation of Mkx(-/-) TDCs led to chondrogenic differentiation, whereas the same stimulation in Mkx(+/+) TDCs led to formation of tenocytes. ChIP-seq of Mkx overexpressing TDCs revealed significant peaks in tenogenic-related genes, such as collagen type (Col)1a1 and Col3a1, and chondrogenic differentiation-related genes, such as SRY-box (Sox)5, Sox6, and Sox9 Our results demonstrate that Mkx has a dual role, including accelerating tendon differentiation and preventing chondrogenic/osteogenic differentiation. This molecular network of Mkx provides a basis for tendon physiology and tissue engineering.