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. 2014 Mar 12;9(3):e90953. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090953

Figure 4. Combined hUCB+G-CSF exert robust functional recovery in chronic TBI.

Figure 4

A separate cohort of TBI animals, using the same experimental paradigm above, was subjected to behavioral tests. Elevated body swing tests revealed that animals displayed normal swing activity (average of 10 swings to both left and right side) prior to TBI (Baseline), but exhibited significant swings to one side after TBI (Day 0 post-TBI) (p's<0.05 versus Baseline) (Fig. 4A). At post-TBI day 7 and day 14, TBI-hUCB+G-GSF and TBI-hUCB alone promoted significantly better recovery compared to G-CSF alone, although all three groups performed better than TBI-saline group (a) (p's<0.05). By day 28, TBI-hUCB and TBI-hUCB+G-CSF were the only two groups that displayed significant recovery of normal swing activity (p's<0.05), while TBI-GCSF group reverted to Day 0 post-TBI levels and did not significantly differ from TBI-saline (Fig. 4A) (p>0.05). By day 56, TBI-hUCB+G-GSF and TBI-hUCB alone were still significantly displaying near normal swing activity (p's<0.05 versus TBI-G-CSF or TBI-saline), but the TBI-hUCB+G-GSF showed significantly better recovery than TBI-hUCB alone (c) (p<0.05). In addition TBI-GCSF group did not significantly differ from TBI-saline by day 56 (Fig. 4A) (p>0.05). Rotorod tests revealed that animals learned to balance on the rotating rod (maximum of 60 seconds) prior to TBI (Baseline), but exhibited significant reduction in balancing time after TBI (Day 0) (p's<0.05 versus Baseline) (Fig. 4B). At post-TBI day 7 and day 14, the performance in balancing on the rotating rod across treatment groups showed the following order of best to least recovery: TBI-hUCB+G-GSF>TBI-hUCB alone>G-CSF alone, with all three groups performing better than TBI-saline group (a) (p's<0.05), but the TBI-hUCB+G-CSF displayed the most effective balancing activity at across all time points (p's<0.05 versus all other groups) (Fig. 4B). By day 28 and day 56, only TBI-hUCB and TBI-hUCB+G-CSF were the only two groups that displayed significant recovery of balancing activity (p's<0.05 versus TBI-G-CSF or TBI-saline), while TBI-GCSF group did not significantly differ from TBI-saline (Fig. 4B) (p's>0.05).