Fig. 4
Behavioral assessments. a Analysis of delta BMS scores (calculated by subtraction of score from DPO1). The functional recovery of mice with SCI after transplantation of BDNF-GFP cells, GFP cells, or infusion of vehicle (HBSS w/o Ca2+/Mg2+). The averaged delta BMS scores of the three groups were analyzed via ANOVA with repeated measures (cell groups × time). This gave a significant interaction of cell groups × time of p <0.05. Cell group differences were further investigated on single days (DPO35 and DPO42) by one-way ANOVA and consecutive post-hoc Tukey’s test. DPO35, BDNF-GFP to GFP (*p = 0.02); DPO42, BDNF-GFP to GFP (**p = 0.005) and BDNF-GFP to vehicle (*p = 0.026). BDNF-GFP, n = 7; GFP, n = 9; vehicle, n = 8; sham, n = 8. b Von Frey filament test, representing the average of the stimulus intensity (filament weight in grams) used to determine pain threshold (paw withdrawal threshold) in each group, shown as the average of both hindpaws. BDNF-GFP, n = 4; GFP, n = 5; vehicle, n = 5; sham, n = 8. The difference in the number among the animal groups is owing to the viability in the responsiveness of the animals to the stimulus (see Methods for details). BDNF-GFP animals showed no statistically significant change in their mechanical pain threshold as compared with the other groups. The four groups were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. No significant difference among the four groups was detected (p = 0.2224). BDNF brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BMS Basso mouse scale, DPO days post operation, GFP green fluorescent protein