| dc.description.abstract | Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating event that typically results in immediate and permanent loss of neurological due to massive disruption of neuronal circuits. This can lead to many complications including, but not limited to loss of voluntary motor function, sensory dysfunction, and autonomic dysreflexia. Currently, there are no effective treatment strategies that can successfully cure spinal cord injuries so primary care providers are forced to resort to treating symptoms and preventing further secondary conditions. A promising research avenue for the treatment of spinal cord injuries is neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation. In previous studies, NPC derived grafts have been shown to integrate into the hosts nervous system and improve sensory function in mice and primate models after SCI. However, there is no clear understanding of which specific subtypes of sensory neurons are forming synaptic connections with the neural progenitor cell graft. To understand this, we used Rabies helper/Syn1-cre grafts in C4 dorsal column lesions and the monosynaptic rabies tracing approach. By colocalizing rabies positive neurons with other biomarkers visualized through immunohistochemistry we will be able to see which specific subtypes are forming these connections. Unfortunately, rabies infectivity in the spinal cord and neural progenitor cell graft was too low for rabies infection to reach the neurons of the dorsal root ganglion. Due to this fact, the goals of the project shifted towards identifying if nociceptive specific axons terminated in their subtype specific region of the spinal cords dorsal horn cytoarchitecture formed by the graft. This was accomplished by colocalizing peripherin intensity with calretinin positive neuron clusters. The results showed a small increase peripherin intensity within the calretinin positive subpopulation, but no statistical significance to it. | |
