Upregulation of eIF-5A1 in the paralyzed muscle after spinal cord transection associates with spontaneous hindlimb locomotor recovery in rats by upregulation of the ErbB, MAPK and neurotrophin signal pathways

► Locomotor functional recovery was observed after spinal cord transection (SCT). ► 2-DE reveals 16 differential spots in the gastrocnemius between SCT and normal rats. ► After SCT, eIF-5A1 was upregulated in gastrocnemius muscle. ► RNAi, gene expression array and bioinformatic analysis reveal underlying mechanism. ► We report that eIF-5A1 via three signal pathways promote functional recovery after SCT.