Fig. 8

Injection of I-5 hydrogel promotes locomotor recovery. a Comparison of locomotor recovery in the PBS and I-5 injection groups. Locomotor recovery was measured by using the BBB scale in an open field. Animals with I-5 injection showed improved BBB locomotor scores from 4 weeks after injury. A red arrow indicates the day of injection. * and ** Indicate p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively, by repeated measures two-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Bonferroni analysis. N = 9 for the PBS group and N = 8 for the I-5 groups. Error bars represent the SEM. b Representative footprints analyzed by the Catwalk software. The colors of the footprints were assigned by the Catwalk software (bright red = left forepaw, dim red = left hindpaw, bright green = right forepaw, and dim green = right hindpaw). c–g Five parameters were used to quantify the quality of locomotion 7 weeks after injury. c Stride length. d Base of support. e Rotation angle. f Relative position. g Regularity index. ** indicates p < 0.01 by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc analysis. N = 5, 9 and 8 for the sham, PBS, and I-5 groups, respectively. Error bars represent the SEM