PMID- 23581453 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20130730 LR - 20211021 IS - 1547-5646 (Electronic) IS - 1547-5654 (Print) IS - 1547-5646 (Linking) VI - 18 IP - 6 DP - 2013 Jun TI - Implications of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-g-poly(ethylene glycol) with codissolved brain-derived neurotrophic factor injectable scaffold on motor function recovery rate following cervical dorsolateral funiculotomy in the rat. PG - 641-52 LID - 10.3171/2013.3.SPINE12874 [doi] AB - OBJECT: In a follow-up study to their prior work, the authors evaluated a novel delivery system for a previously established treatment for spinal cord injury (SCI), based on a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm), lightly cross-linked with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) injectable scaffold. The primary aim of this work was to assess the recovery of both spontaneous and skilled forelimb function following a cervical dorsolateral funiculotomy in the rat. This injury ablates the rubrospinal tract (RST) but spares the dorsal and ventral corticospinal tract and can severely impair reaching and grasping abilities. METHODS: Animals received an implant of either PNIPAAm-g-PEG or PNIPAAm-g-PEG + brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The single-pellet reach-to-grasp task and the staircase-reaching task were used to assess skilled motor function associated with reaching and grasping abilities, and the cylinder task was used to assess spontaneous motor function, both before and after injury. RESULTS: Because BDNF can stimulate regenerating RST axons, the authors showed that animals receiving an implant of PNIPAAm-g-PEG with codissolved BDNF had an increased recovery rate of fine motor function when compared with a control group (PNIPAAm-g-PEG only) on both a staircase-reaching task at 4 and 8 weeks post-SCI and on a single-pellet reach-to-grasp task at 5 weeks post-SCI. In addition, spontaneous motor function, as measured in the cylinder test, recovered to preinjury values in animals receiving PNIPAAm-g-PEG + BDNF. Fluorescence immunochemistry indicated the presence of both regenerating axons and BDA-labeled fibers growing up to or within the host-graft interface in animals receiving PNIPAAm-g-PEG + BDNF. CONCLUSIONS: Based on their results, the authors suggest that BDNF delivered by the scaffold promoted the growth of RST axons into the lesion, which may have contributed in part to the increased recovery rate. FAU - Grous, Lauren Conova AU - Grous LC AD - Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. lgc25@drexel.edu FAU - Vernengo, Jennifer AU - Vernengo J FAU - Jin, Ying AU - Jin Y FAU - Himes, B Timothy AU - Himes BT FAU - Shumsky, Jed S AU - Shumsky JS FAU - Fischer, Itzhak AU - Fischer I FAU - Lowman, Anthony AU - Lowman A LA - eng GR - R21 NS061307/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States GR - NS061307/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural DEP - 20130412 PL - United States TA - J Neurosurg Spine JT - Journal of neurosurgery. Spine JID - 101223545 RN - 0 (Acrylamides) RN - 0 (Acrylic Resins) RN - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) RN - 0 (Polymers) RN - 25189-55-3 (poly-N-isopropylacrylamide) RN - 3WJQ0SDW1A (Polyethylene Glycols) SB - IM MH - Acrylamides/administration & dosage MH - Acrylic Resins MH - Animals MH - Axons/*physiology MH - Behavior, Animal/*physiology MH - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*administration & dosage/pharmacology MH - Cervical Vertebrae/*injuries MH - Disease Models, Animal MH - Female MH - Forelimb/physiopathology MH - Motor Skills/physiology MH - Movement Disorders/etiology/*therapy MH - Polyethylene Glycols/administration & dosage MH - Polymers/administration & dosage MH - Prostheses and Implants MH - Rats MH - Rats, Sprague-Dawley MH - *Recovery of Function MH - Spinal Cord Injuries/complications/*therapy PMC - PMC5024553 MID - NIHMS815844 EDAT- 2013/04/16 06:00 MHDA- 2013/07/31 06:00 PMCR- 2016/09/15 CRDT- 2013/04/16 06:00 PHST- 2013/04/16 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2013/04/16 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2013/07/31 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2016/09/15 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.3171/2013.3.SPINE12874 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - J Neurosurg Spine. 2013 Jun;18(6):641-52. doi: 10.3171/2013.3.SPINE12874. Epub 2013 Apr 12.