Treadmill training accelerates restoration of locomotion after complete spinal cord transection in the rat.

This short communication is devoted to the problem of the effect of the regular treadmill training on the restoration of motor function after spinal cord interruption. Experiments were carried out on the full spinalized rats. One group of the operated rats (n = 5) received regular treadmill training and another group (n = 5) did not receive any training. Motor behavior and activity were investigated weekly up to week 9 after spinalization. It was observed that trained rats restarted motor behavior earlier and demonstrated locomotor hindlimbs movements, and were more active than untrained rats.