Potential role of oxidative stress on the prescription of rehabilitation interventions in spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study design: Review article. Objectives: To provide an overview of free radical biology, particularly with respect to muscle physiology, as well as the potential effects of muscle morphological changes, physical capacity and nutritional status on oxidative stress in people with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). The potential implications of these factors for determining the optimal dosage of rehabilitation training interventions in people with chronic SCI will also be presented. Setting: Vancouver, BC, Canada. Methods: Literature review. Results: Not applicable. Conclusion: There has been a great deal of focus on rehabilitation exercise interventions providing intensive practice of movements to enhance functional recovery and physical capacity following SCI. However, there is still much to be understood about the appropriate dosage of training parameters (e.g. frequency, duration). It has been known for several decades that exercise increases free radical production, leading to oxidative stress. To date, there has been little consideration of the potential interaction of oxidative stress with training parameters on functional outcomes in chronic SCI. Furthermore, individuals with chronic SCI face many secondary consequences of their injury, such as muscle atrophy, change in muscle fiber type, general deconditioning and nutritional status, that are known to influence free radical production and antioxidant capacity. Better understanding of the potential confounding effects of oxidative stress associated with exercise will improve our ability to determine the optimal 'dose' of rehabilitation training to maximize functional recovery following SCI.

Mangiferin attenuates contusive spinal cord injury in rats through the regulation of oxidative stress, inflammation and the Bcl-2 and Bax pathway

“…Oxidative stress is a series of adaptive reactions caused by the dysequilibrium between reactive oxygen in the body and the antioxidant system and, due to its importance in secondary injury in SCI, it has received increasing attention (3). Lam et al reported that the potential confounding effects of oxidative stress improved maximize functional recovery following SCI (4), and Ordonez et al found that arm-cranking exercises improved chronic spinal cord injury through the downregulation of oxidative damage (5).…”

Role of Melatonin in Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury

“…In recent years, much attention has been focused on oxidative stress cascade leading to secondary injury after SCI because inhibition of the deleterious effects of it is thought to be one of the main mechanisms of therapeutic interventions [ 87 ]. ROS and RNS are the free radicals which cause devastating effects in biological system [ 88 ]. Recently it has been shown that MDA content significantly increased at 1 day after injury and reached a peak value at 7 days in the SCI group and SOD activity was significantly reduced in the SCI group at 1 day.…”

Activation of AMPK by OSU53 protects spinal cord neurons from oxidative stress

“…Oxidative stress following the spinal cord injury is a main cause of secondary damages to neurons [ 1 – 3 ]. The levels of different reactive oxygen species (ROS), i.e.…”