Recovery of Locomotion following Transplantation of Monoaminergic Neurons in the Spinal Cord of Paraplegic Ratsa

Abstract
Severe traumatic lesions of the spinal cord yield a permanent deficit of motricity in adult mammals and specifically a loss of locomotor activity of hindlimbs when the lesion is located at the lower thoracic level. To restore this function, we have developed a paradigm of transplantation in rats based on a transection model of the spinal cord and the subsequent injection at the sublesional level of a suspension of embryonic brainstem monoaminergic neurons which play a key role in the modulation of locomotion. A genuine locomotion was characterized in transplanted animals by electromyographic and electroneurographic recordings. This correlated with a specific reinnervation pattern of targets, where typical synapses were found, and with the normalization of biochemical parameters.