Purpose: Lysophospholipids in porcine liver protease degradation products (PLDP) have shown the potential to ameliorate damage in rats with spinal cord injury (SCI) by the amputation method. In this study, we evaluated the effect of PLDP on healing in SCI mice developed using an impactor to reduce variability from different transection methods.
Methods: Mice were subjected to SCI by impact loading with an impactor. PLDP or sterile water was orally administered for 14 days from the day of treatment, and motor function was evaluated with the Basso Mouse Scale (BMS) and the Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan Locomotor Rating Scale (BBB). 
Results: The PLDP group displayed a trend towards improvement in motor function over controls according to the BMS, while BBB scores showed a significant amelioration.
Discussion: The impactor method reduced inter-subject differences and demonstrated that PLDP promoted paraplegia recovery. The discrepancy between the BMS and BBB results may have been due to the latter method's more detailed multi-joint assessment of lower limb function.
Summary: Our results indicate that phospholipid components may have therapeutic effects in SCI. Future studies including immunostaining and compositional analysis will clarify the effects of individual lysophospholipids in mice with SCI using the impactor method.