Dataset
Blood brain barrier permeability and gliosis along the pain neuroaxis after unilateral cervical spinal cord injury and forced wheel walking exercise in female rats
2025
Abstract
STUDY PURPOSE: Chronic neuropathic pain develops in most individuals after spinal cord injury (SCI) and remains difficult to treat. Exercise reduces pain incidence after SCI, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are not well understood. This study examined how aerobic exercise influences blood spinal cord barrier (BSCB) integrity, vascular protein expression, and neuroimmune activation along the sensory neuroaxis following contusive SCI in rat. DATA COLLECTED: Adult female Sprague Dawley rats received a unilateral C5 contusion or served as uninjured controls and were randomly assigned to sedentary or forced wheel exercise groups. Exercise began 5 days after injury and continued for 5 weeks, 5 days per week, for 20 minutes per day at speeds between 7-12 meters per minute. Behavioral outcomes included weekly tactile sensitivity testing with von Frey filaments, pain avoidance measured with the mechanical conflict avoidance paradigm at 6 weeks, and learned helplessness measured with the forced swim test at 6 weeks. Blood spinal cord barrier permeability was assessed in two cohorts. A separate 24-hour post injury cohort received a tail vein injection of 2% Evans Blue dye, and tissue was collected 2 hours later following transcardial perfusion to quantify acute barrier disruption. In the chronic cohort, Evans Blue was measured again at 6 weeks. Tissue was collected from the lesion region at C4-6, from spinal segments below the lesion at C7-8, and from supraspinal pain processing regions including the anterior cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, medial dorsal thalamus, and ventral posterolateral thalamus. The tight junction protein occludin and the vascular marker CD13 was quantified using western blot in spinal and cortical regions in the chronic group. Glial activation was quantified by western blot for Iba1 and GFAP in spinal and cortical regions. DATA USAGE NOTES:
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Details
- Title
- Blood brain barrier permeability and gliosis along the pain neuroaxis after unilateral cervical spinal cord injury and forced wheel walking exercise in female rats
- Creators
- Grace Giddings - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Marion Murray Spinal Cord Research Center, College of Medicine, Drexel UniversityMegan Detloff - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Marion Murray Spinal Cord Research Center, College of Medicine, Drexel University
- Publisher
- Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury (ODC-SCI)
- Grant note
- NIH NINDS (NS097880 (MRD)) Pennsylvania Department of Health (6826 (MRD))
- Resource Type
- Dataset
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Neurobiology and Anatomy
- Other Identifier
- 991022146958204721