Abstract
Study design:
The purpose of this study was to explore the changes in pelvic floor muscle tension at different times after suprasacral spinal cord injury (SS) and sacral cord injury (SC), and learn more about pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) after spinal cord injury (SCI).
Method:
A total of 70 healthy female Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats, weighing between 250 and 280 g, were randomly divided into seven groups with 10 rats in each group, which included five SS groups (3 days and 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after injury), one SC group (4 weeks after injury) and one normal group. Muscle tension, including muscle compliance, and contraction activity elicited using electrostimulation under two initial lengths were measured at different time points.
Results:
(1) Muscle compliance decreased within 4 weeks in the SS group (P>0.05), began to increase at 8 weeks (P<0.05) and reached the peak at 12 weeks, which were all lower than the normal level; (2) contraction activity under both initial lengths tended to decrease within 4 weeks, peak at 8 weeks (P<0.05) and decline again at 12 weeks , which were all lower than that of the normal group as well; and (3) the SC group showed similar compliance with the normal group (P>0.05) and less contraction activity when compared with other SS groups (P<0.05).
Conclusion:
Measurement for the compliance and contraction activity of pubococcygeus indicates the changes from decreasing to increasing after suprasacral cord injury, and similar compliance combined with rather low contraction activity compared with the normal group after sacral cord injury, both of which are in accordance with PFD after spinal cord injury.
Similar content being viewed by others
Log in or create a free account to read this content
Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com
or
References
Dasari VR, Spomar DG, Li L, Gujrati M, Rao JS, Dinh DH . Umbilical cord blood stem cell mediated downregulation of fas improves functional recovery of rats after spinal cord injury. Neurochem Res 2008; 33: 134–149.
Coutts M, Keirstead HS . Stem cells for the treatment of spinal cord injury. Exp Neurol 2008; 209: 368–377.
Bambakidis NC, Butler J, Horn EM, Wang X, Preul MC, Theodore N et al. Stem cell biology and its therapeutic applications in the setting of spinal cord injury. Neurosurg Focus 2008; 24: E20.
Keith MW, Kilgore KL, Peckham PH, Wuolle KS, Creasey G, Lemay M . Tendon transfers and functional electrical stimulation for restoration of hand function in spinal cord injury. J Hand Surg [Am] 1996; 21: 89–99.
Kirsch R . Development of a neuroprosthesis for restoring arm and hand function via functional electrical stimulation following high cervical spinal cord injury. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2005; 4: 4142–4144.
Turner JA, Lee JS, Martinez O, Medlin AL, Schandler SL, Cohen MJ . Somatotopy of the motor cortex after long-term spinal cord injury or amputation. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2001; 9: 154–160.
Shafik A . The role of the levator ani muscle in evacuation, sexual performance and pelvic floor disorders. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct 2000; 11: 361–376.
Nout YS, Schmidt MH, Tovar CA, Culp E, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC . Telemetric monitoring of corpus spongiosum penis pressure in conscious rats for assessment of micturition and sexual function following spinal cord contusion injury. J Neurotrauma 2005; 22: 429–441.
Ditunno JF, Little JW, Tessler A, Burns AS . Spinal shock revisited: a four-phase model. Spinal Cord 2004; 42: 383–395.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lu, Z., Li, J., Liao, L. et al. Changes in pubococcygeus muscle tension in the pelvic floor of rats after spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 48, 464–469 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2009.169
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2009.169
