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Fig. 2 | Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Fig. 2

From: SCF + G-CSF treatment in the chronic phase of severe TBI enhances axonal sprouting in the spinal cord and synaptic pruning in the hippocampus

Fig. 2

SCF + G-CSF treatment, especially the repeated treatments, in the chronic phase of severe TBI promotes the intact corticospinal tract sprouting in the cervical spinal cord. a Schematic illustration of tracking the intact corticospinal tract (CST) at the C5-7 segments of the cervical spinal cord by injection of BDA in the contralesional cortex. The BDA-labeled CST sprouting into the denervated side of cervical spinal cord. The red box in the spinal cord shows the location of representative images in panel b. b Representative images of immunohistochemistry staining show the intact corticospinal tract sprouting into the denervated side of the cervical spinal cord. The red arrowheads indicate the sprouted corticospinal tract axons (BDA positive brown fibers) in the denervated side of cervical spinal cord. cf Quantification of sprouted intact corticospinal tract axons in the denervated side of the C5 (c), C6 (d), C7 (e) and C5-7 segments (f). Note that SCF + G-CSF treatment, especially the repeated treatment, significantly enhances the intact corticospinal tract sprouting. One-way ANOVA followed by Fisher’s LSD test. g Data of the correlation assay by Pearson’s correlation test. Note that the number of the sprouted intact corticospinal tract axons in the denervated side of C5-7 segments is negatively correlated with the latency of removing the adhesive tape from the affected (left) forepaw. h The illustrations show the process of the Sholl analysis for the sprouted corticospinal tract axons in the denervated side of the cervical spinal cord. The sprouted BDA-labeled CST axons were traced using the plugin “neuronJ” in Fiji software followed by Sholl analysis. il Sholl analysis data reveal that SCF + G-CSF treatment, especially the repeated treatments, significantly promotes the intact corticospinal tract sprouting in the C5 (i), C6 (j), C7 (k) and C5-7 (l). Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test. Mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001. Sham: n = 4, TBI-vehicle: n = 5, TBI-SCF + G-CSF-single treatment: n = 5, TBI-SCF + G-CSF-repeated treatment: n = 5

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