Female sprague dawley rats

Female Sprague-Dawley rats 1.5 months of age were procured from Taconic Biosciences (Rensselaer, NY) and randomly assigned to sham (n = 7) or SCI (n = 11) groups. Baseline sensorimotor behavioral measures were obtained 1 week before sham or SCI procedures performed at 2 months. Food (standard chow) and water were provided ad libitum during the experiments, and all animal procedures were approved by the Rutgers University and Yale University institutional animal care and use committees in accordance with National Institutes of Health guidelines.

Female Sprague-Dawley rats (Taconic) were used for all drug treatment experiments. Female transgenic PV-Cre rats with Long-Evans background (NIDA IRP Transgenic Rat Project) were used for optogenetic experiments. Rats were 4-6 weeks old at the time of imaging or behavioral testing. All procedures were conducted in accordance with the institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. N for behavioral data was as follows: SAL group, 13 rats; PCP group, 6 rats; SAL + D-serine group, 5 rats; PCP + D-serine group, 6 rats. N for pharmacological treatment imaging data was as follows: SAL group, 15 movies from 5 rats; PCP group, 15 movies from 5 rats; SAL + D-serine group, 12 movies from 4 rats; PCP + D-serine group, 15 movies from 4 rats, PCP group 2 (baclofen treated), 12 movies from 4 rats, PCP + baclofen group, 12 movies from 4 rats. N for optogenetic stimulation imaging data in PV-Cre rats was as follows: Control (Ctrl) group, 20 movies from 7 rats; LED stimulation, 20 movies from 7 rats. Sample sizes (4–6 animals per group) were chosen based on similar studies¹⁹ without biasing for expected effect sizes, in order to obtain statistical significance without overpowering analysis to detect negligibly small effects.

Female Sprague Dawley rats weighing 250–300 g were purchased from Taconic Farms. All rats were housed three animals per cage in temperature, humidity and light controlled environments with ad libitum access to food and water. Experimental procedures were approved by the Thomas Jefferson University IACUC and conducted in compliance with Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines and the Society for Neuroscience’s Policies on the Use of Animals and Humans in Neuroscience Research.

Female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200-250g, (Taconic, Denmark) were used. All rats received food and water ad libitum and were kept in a 12-hour day—night cycle at a constant environmental temperature of 21°C and 65% humidity. All procedures were approved in advance by the Malmö/Lund Animal Ethics Committee on Animal Experiments (registration number M95-11), regulated by the code of regulations of the Swedish Board of Agriculture. These regulations, including directives from the European Union, follow the law on animal welfare legislated by the Swedish parliament. The animals were kept in the animal facilities of the Biomedical Center at Lund University and experiments were carried out at the Section for Neurophysiology.