FIG. 2.

Male and female weight changes before and after spinal cord injury (SCI). Males weighed more at the start of the study (7 weeks old, ∼260 g) compared with females (7 weeks old, ∼180 g). Males continued to increase in weight at a greater rate than females until SCI at 9 weeks of age. For the first 2 weeks following SCI, males dropped a small but significant percentage of weight (p < 0.05) and recovered it compared with uninjured males by Week 3 post-injury. By comparison, female rats did not lose any weight following SCI with a similar growth trend as uninjured female rats until Week 6 post-SCI. *p < 0.05 compared with male SCI rats. Sham: n = 5/gender/group. SCI: n = 8/gender/group.