Abstract With the recovery of motor function, some spinal cord injury (SCI) patients still suffer from severe pain-like behaviors symptoms. Whether motor function correlates with neuropathic pain-like behaviors remain unclear. In this study, a longitudinal cohort study of mice with moderate thoracic 10 contusion was performed to explore the characteristics of neuropathic pain-like behaviors and its correlation with motor function in different sexes. Pain-like behaviors data up to 42 days post-injury (dpi) were collected and compared. Mice of both sexes were divided into three groups based on their Basso Mouse Scale at 42 dpi. There was no significant difference in motor function recovery between the sexes. Female mice showed more significant mechanical allodynia than males at 14 dpi, which was sustained until 42 dpi without significant dynamic changes. However, males showed a gradually worsening state and more severe mechanical allodynia than females at 28 dpi, and then the differences disappeared. Interestingly, male mice obtained more severe cold hyperalgesia symptoms than females. Additionally, we found that there was a correlation between the occurrence of mechanical allodynia and cold and thermal hyperalgesia. Importantly, motor function recovery was positively associated with the outcomes of neuropathic pain-like behaviors after SCI, which was more obvious in female mice. Our data not only revealed the characteristics of neuropathic pain-like behaviors but also clarified the correlations between motor function recovery and neuropathic pain-like behaviors after SCI. These findings may provide new opinions and suggestions for promoting the clinical diagnosis and treatment of neuropathic pain-like behaviors after SCI.
Keywords: correlation; longitudinal study; motor function; neuropathic pain-like behaviors; sex; spinal cord injury.