Lentiviral Interleukin-10 Gene Therapy Preserves Fine Motor Circuitry and Function After a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Male and Female Mice

In mammals, spinal cord injuries often result in muscle paralysis through the apoptosis of lower motor neurons and denervation of neuromuscular junctions. Previous research shows that the inflammatory response to a spinal cord injury can cause additional tissue damage after the initial trauma. To modulate this inflammatory response, we delivered lentiviral anti-inflammatory interleukin-10, via loading onto an implantable biomaterial scaffold, into a left-sided hemisection at the C5 vertebra in mice. We hypothesized that improved behavioral outcomes associated with anti-inflammatory treatment are due to the sparing of fine motor circuit components. We examined behavioral recovery using a ladder beam, tissue sparing using histology, and electromyogram recordings using intraspinal optogenetic stimulation at 2 weeks post-injury. Ladder beam analysis shows interleukin-10 treatment results in significant improvement of behavioral recovery at 2 and 12 weeks post-injury when compared to mice treated with a control virus. Histology shows interleukin-10 results in greater numbers of lower motor neurons, axons, and muscle innervation at 2 weeks post-injury. Furthermore, electromyogram recordings suggest that interleukin-10-treated animals have signal-to-noise ratios and peak-to-peak amplitudes more similar to that of uninjured controls than to that of control injured animals at 2 weeks post-injury. These data show that gene therapy using anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 can significantly reduce tissue damage and subsequent motor deficits after a spinal cord injury. Together, these results suggest that early modulation of the injury response can preserve muscle function with long-lasting benefits.