Recovery of spinal cord function induced by direct current stimulation of the injured rat spinal cord

Direct current stimulation has been shown by others to enhance the regeneration of several types of tissues, including nervous tissue in some species. The purpose of the present experiment was to assess the value of direct current stimulation for enhancing the recovery of spinal cord function after clip compression injury of the rat spinal cord. Twenty Wistar rats underwent a 1-minute, 50-g clip compression injury at T-1, after which electrodes were placed epidurally with the anode proximal and the cathode distal to the injury site. These electrodes were attached to a stimulator implanted subcutaneously. Ten animals received stimulators that produced a constant current of 14 microA, and the remainder received stimulators with no electrical output and served as controls. Assignment of stimulators was random, and the treatment group was not identified until sacrifice. Neurological function was tested weekly for 15 weeks by the inclined plane technique, after which the animals were killed and the injured cords were examined for histological evidence of regeneration. The mean inclined plane result for the treatment group (39 +/- 5 degrees) was significantly better than that for the control group (31 +/- 6 degrees) (P less than 0.02), although there was no significant difference in histological findings between the two groups. Thus, direct current stimulation of the injured mammalian spinal cord produced improvement in neurological function and warrants further investigation.