Effects of Functional Magnetic Stimulation on the Functional Recovery in a Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of functional magnetic stimulation (FMS) on the functional recovery in a rat model of spinal cord injury (SCI). METHOD: Forty-five Sprague-Dawley rats (200~250 grams, female) were used. Rats were laminectomized and the T9 segment of spinal cord was contused using New York University (NYU) spinal impactor. Ten gram weight rod was dropped from a height of 25 mm to produce moderately contused spinal cord injury model. The animals were randomly assigned to 2 groups: one exposed to FMS (FMS group) and the other not exposed to FMS (non-FMS group). Transcranial functional magnetic stimulation was noninvasively applied for 4 weeks. To compare the results between FMS group and non-FMS group, motor functions were evaluated with the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) locomtor rating scale and inclined plane test, and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) and motor evoked potentials (MEP) were also recorded. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in locomotor recovery between FMS group and non-FMS group (p<0.05). Measurement of MEP was also indicated that amplitude of MEP in FMS group is larger than that in non-FMS group. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that FMS may have beneficial effects on motor recovery after spinal cord injury and the benefits of FMS could be an additional non-invasive therapeutic method for clinical trials in patients with spinal cord injury.