Clinical Course of Motor Deficits from Lumbosacral Radiculopathy Due to Disk Herniation.

Background: The clinical course of motor deficits from lumbosacral radiculopathy appears to improve with or without surgery. Strength measurements have been confined to manual muscle testing (MMT) and have not been extensively followed and quantified in prior studies.

Objective: To determine if motor weakness and patient-reported outcomes related to lumbosacral radiculopathy improve without surgical intervention over the course of 12 months.

Androgen regulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor in spinal motoneurons and their target musculature.

Trophic factors maintain motoneuron morphology and function in adulthood. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) interacts with testosterone to maintain dendritic morphology of spinal motoneurons. In addition, testosterone regulates BDNF's receptor (trkB) in motoneurons innervating the quadriceps muscles as well as in motoneurons of the highly androgen-sensitive spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB).