Figure 2.

(a) BBB open-field walking scores for the four groups on the ipsilateral, lesioned side. Hindlimbs were assessed independently to determine the degree of asymmetry. The rate of improvement for the scaffold plus cells group was significantly greater than the rate for the cells-alone (P < 0.001) and lesion-control groups (P = 0.004; two-way repeated measures of ANOVA). For absolute score attained, the scaffold plus cells group showed significant improvement in open-field locomotion compared with the cells-alone (P = 0.006) and lesion-control groups (P = 0.007) for all time points from 14 days p.i. on (ANOVA, Bonferroni post hoc analysis). (b) BBB open-field walking scores for the contralateral unlesioned hindlimb. There is only a 1–2 point difference between the lesioned (see a) and unlesioned sides, indicating that the walking behavior of the groups was relatively symmetric overall and that both sides were impacted by this unilateral lesion. Individual animals did, however, exhibit a degree of asymmetry in their stepping with a twisted trunk position leading to the rotation of both hindlimbs to one side of their bodies. (c) Inclined plane results. When facing upwards, animals in the four groups are statistically similar for all time points (Kruskal–Wallis test) indicating that they were generally similar in strength. When facing downwards, the scaffold plus cells group performance showed statistically significant improvement on all days from day 14 on (except days 49 and 70) compared with the cells-alone and lesion-control groups (Kruskal–Wallis test). Although the data showed significant departure from the Gaussian distribution, parametric analysis revealed similar results to nonparametric analysis, and the results are represented in the figure by their means for visual clarity. (d) Righting reflex results. The scaffold plus cells group exhibited a significantly higher percentage of normal righting on day 56 as compared with the lesion-control (Pearson χ² test of independence). (e) Percent of animals with a normal pain reflex in response to toe pinching was significantly higher in the plus cells group on the days marked by the asterisks (Pearson χ² test). (f) Percent of animals exhibiting a spastic response to the same toe pinching stimuli.