Local and distal responses to injury in the rapid functional recovery from spinal cord contusion in rat pups

Young rats display an accelerated rate of locomotor recovery after contusive spinal cord injury (SCI) compared to adults subjected to a similar standardized injury. We examined possible differences in the responses to SCI at the injury site and in the distal cord that might contribute to this rapid recovery. P14–15 rats were studied at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 28 days after injury at T8 produced with a weight drop device (10g × 2.5 cm). We used immunohistochemistry to investigate distal plasticity of serotonergic and noradrenergic pathways that have been shown to modulate locomotion. After SCI, pups exhibited an expected decrease in monoaminergic innervation of the lumbosacral cord, consistent with partial loss of these descending pathways. Unlike published results for the adult, we found no evidence of partial reinnervation with time after injury. On the other hand, oligodendrocytes at and near the lesion epicenter of the young rats appeared unexpectedly resilient to the insult. No evidence of oligodendrocyte loss in spared white matter was detected at 24 h after injury, as compared to the 50% loss reported in adults. Rather, there was a significant increase in the density of oligodendrocytes by 5 days after injury that was associated with a dramatic upregulation of markers for glial progenitor cells after pup SCI. Our results suggest that an altered glial response near the injury epicenter as compared to that in adults is likely to contribute to the more rapid rate of recovery in hindlimb locomotor function in young rats after SCI.