Therapeutic effects of acrobatic exercise and magnetic field exposure on functional recovery after spinal cord injury in mice

The effects of acrobatic exercise and magnetic stimulation (MS) in mice applied either separately or in combination while on recovery after spinal cord injury have been investigated. This progress has been compared in six groups of animals. The first two groups consisted of non-injured and injured animals, respectively, which were not exposed to any treatment. The third group included injured animals that participated in an acrobatic exercise and were exposed to MS applied at the frequency of 1 Hz. The animals in the fourth group were exposed to the MS (1 Hz) only, without performing any acrobatic exercises. While the mice in the fifth group participated in the acrobatic exercise and were exposed to MS at 15 Hz, the animals in group six received an acrobatic exercise without exposure to MS. The effects of the treatment were evaluated with the Basso Mouse Scale, the Horizontal Ladder Scale, and the Abnormal Posture Scale. While all groups showed improvement at the end of the study period, the animals that received exercise combined with 1 Hz MS demonstrated the best functional improvement. The animals exposed to the MS applied at a frequency of 15 Hz combined with acrobatic exercise, and those animals that were engaged in exercise and were not exposed to the MS, performed the worst. The area of the spared white matter at the lesion center correlated well with functional recovery and was greatest in the animals that received MS (1 Hz) combined with exercise.