Oscillating field stimulation promotes axon regeneration and locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury

Abstract

Oscillating field stimulation (OFS) is a potential method for treating spinal cord injury. Although it has been used in spinal cord injury (SCI) therapy in basic and clinical studies, its underlying mechanism and the correlation between its duration and nerve injury repair remain poorly understood. In this study, we established rat models of spinal cord contusion at T10 and then administered 12 weeks of OFS. The results revealed that effectively promotes the recovery of motor function required continuous OFS for more than 6 weeks. The underlying mechanism may be related to the effects of OFS on promoting axon regeneration, inhibiting astrocyte proliferation, and improving the linear arrangement of astrocytes. This study was approved by the Animal Experiments and Experimental Animal Welfare Committee of Capital Medical University (supplemental approval No. AEEI-2021-204) on July 26, 2021.

Keywords

• astrocyte orientation; astrocyte proliferation; axonal regeneration; locomotor recovery; neural regeneration; neural repair; oscillating field stimulation; spinal cord injury; stimulus duration