Intramuscular Injection of Adenoassociated Virus Encoding Human Neurotrophic Factor 3 and Exercise Intervention Contribute to Reduce Spasms after Spinal Cord Injury

Limb spasms are common after spinal cord injury, and current treatments aren't ideal. This study explores a combination of gene therapy and exercise to reduce these spasms. Rats with spinal cord injuries received gene therapy (AAV-NT3) and a 2-week exercise program. Researchers then measured spasm frequency, H-reflex, motor function, and neuron characteristics. The study found that the combination therapy reduced spasms and improved motor neuron protection. It suggests that combining gene therapy and exercise can alleviate muscle spasms by influencing spinal cord neurons.

• 1
  AAV-NT3 gene therapy, exercise, and combination therapy all reduced spasm frequency at 6 weeks after spinal cord injury.
• 2
  Combination therapy was significantly better than AAV-NT3 alone in protecting motor neurons after spinal cord injury.
• 3
  Combination therapy resulted in greater recovery of KCC2 expression compared to exercise alone, and was superior in remodeling spinal cord neurons.