Fig. 2.

Treatment designs and behavioral outcomes. Schematic presentations of (A) the in vitro hMSC seeding process for a PLGA scaffold and (B) design of the T9–T10 midline hemisection injury followed by implant insertion. Compared with three control groups, treatment with PLGA-scaffolded hMSCs significantly improved overall coordinated motor function as determined by (C) group mean BBB locomotion score of the hindlimb ipsilateral to injury and (D) inclined plane angle. Implantation of scaffolded hMSCs also significantly reduced occurrence of abnormal spinal reflexes in response to (E) pressure and (G) contact-triggered righting. Both (F) brief nociceptive pinch to the toe pads and (H) sensory tests at T9–T10 with standard 2- and 10-g Semmes-Weinstein filaments showed markedly higher hypersensitive responses in the controls relative to the scaffolded hMSC-treated rats (*, treated vs. lesion control, P < 0.05, Fisher’s exact test). Data points (n = 7) represent average ± SEM or percent with normal (E–G) or abnormal (H) responses of each group, analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA that showed an overall significant effect of treatment (P < 0.05). Symbols indicate that means are significantly different from those of the lesion-only (*), scaffold-only (#), and hMSCs-alone (^) control groups at the specified times after injury (Tukey’s post hoc procedure or Student’s t test).