Figure 2.
The effect of ketone salt combined with the ketogenic diet on blood ketone levels in spinal cord injury rats.
(A) β-Hydroxybutyrate concentration 4 hours post-injury in the KD + KS + SCI (black; n = 10) and SCI groups (gray; n = 10). (B) Blood ketone levels 12 hours post-injury in the KD + KS + SCI (black; n = 9) and SCI groups (gray; n = 8) prior to gavage and 1 hour after gavage (13 hours post-injury). (C) Blood ketone levels 36 hours post-injury in the KD + KS + SCI (black; n = 5) and SCI groups (gray; n = 5) prior to gavage and 4 hours post-gavage (40 hours post-injury). (D) Blood ketone levels in the KD + KS + SCI (black; n = 15) and SCI groups (gray; n = 17) at 1 day (measured 4 hours after the gavage), 1 week, and 6 weeks post injury. KS was only given for 4 days after SCI. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 5 per group). †P < 0.05, vs. SCI group (two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-tests).