Purpose: This study evaluated the action of human amniotic membrane (HAM) in rats after induced spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods: twenty-five Wistar rats were divided into five groups (n=5): health (healthy animals underwent to surgical procedure simulation), control (C-injury simulation), injury (I -spinal cord injury) and HAM (SCI + immediate application of HAM). We analyzed the effect of application of HAM fragment on SCI using gait speed analysis (kinematics) and the sciatic functional index (SFI) to the animal gait. Both tests were performed in triplicate at 5 and 12 days after the surgery.Results: Movement analyses demonstrated that the groups which received the HAM application showed an increase in average speed (after 12 days) and in the sciatic functional index (at both 5 and 12 days) when compared to other groups.
Conclusion:The gait speed kinematics and the functional gait (SFI) analyses indicated that the application of HAM in induced SCI in rats led to the recovery of motion and functional gait, which suggests a positive action of this biomaterial in SCI sequels.