Figure 6. Effect of treatment on locomotive function, body weight, and sensory perception.

A-a) Treated animals demonstrate a steady and significantly greater improvement in the BBB score than controls (untreated, treated with antioxidant enzymes, ENZ, or control NPs). The BBB scores of untreated and treated groups are the compilation of three repeats: treated n=15 M=8; F=7; untreated n=12, M=6, M=6. Other control group studies (ENZ and control NPs) were carried out once, n= 6 (M=3; F=3). A-b) Treated animals show lower weight loss post-SCI than untreated animals; also, they gain weight more quickly than untreated animals. n=12, M =6, F=6). B-a) Treated animals show lower footfall in the grid walk test than untreated animals. Pre-injury n= 6 M=3; F=3), treated and untreated n=10 M=5; F=5). B-d) There was a trend towards animals in the treated group covering more distance in the grid walk test than untreated animals. From both the treated and untreated groups, three animals did not move, and three moved only between 6 to 17 inches. These animal data were not considered in calculating the mean. Pre-injury n= 6 M=3; F=3), treated and untreated n=10 M=5; F=5) (n.s.). C-a) In the Randall–Selitto test, treated animals show a higher withdrawal threshold in response to pain than untreated animals. Uninjured n=16 M=9; F=7), treated and untreated =9 M=5; F=4). C-b) Treated animals tend to have lower thermal sensitivity than untreated animals. n=13 M=7; F=7). All data shown are mean ± s.e.m. For BBB scoring and body weight change, multiple unpaired t-tests with Welch correction were used to calculate the significance between control groups, ENZ, control NPs, and untreated animals; there was no statistically significant difference between control groups. * p<0.05, ** p<0.005, *** p<0.0005, **** p<0.0001.