##Experimental groups
Sprague-Dawley rats were intraperitoneally injected with 40 mg/kg of
newly prepared streptozotocin once to cause diabetes, and normal control
animals were intraperitoneally injected with the same amount of citric
acid buffer. The dose of SRS 16-86 was 15 mg/kg as this does of SRS
16-86 was safe and effective for repairing spinal cord injury animal
model. We selected 6 animals from each group at each time point to
ensure the accuracy of the data. Animals (n=150) were randomly assigned
to the following groups without exclusions and only the designer of
experiment (Yingchun Qiao) was aware of the group allocation at the
different stages of the experiment: control group, Sprague-Dawley rats +
citrate buffer (n=50); DN group, Sprague-Dawley rats + streptozotocin
(STZ) (n=50); and DN-SRS group, SD rats + STZ + SRS 16-86 (n=50).
All aspects of testing and data analysis employed a blinded design.