Fig. 8

Treatment with bmSC reduced axonal damage in ascending fiber tracts anterior of the lesion site. Staining with Smi32 (red) was combined with Iba1 (green) in spinal cord tissue ten weeks after SCI. a-h Smi32 IR in the dorsal columns (a-d) and ventrolateral white matter (e-h) of a rat without SCI (a, e), and of SCI animals treated with saline (b, f), MP (c, g) and bmSC injections (d, h); 20 objective, scale bar in a. Note the absence of non-phosphorylated neurofilament in control samples without SCI in a and e. i Quantification of Smi32-IR in the ascending dorsal columns anterior and posterior of the lesion site (dc ant, dc post), the ventrolateral white matter (v&l) and corresponding regions without SCI (no Smi32-IR, marked x). Bars show means and SEM, n = 5–6 rats/group. Treatment with bmSC was associated with reduced Smi32-IR in the anterior dorsal columns compared to saline treatment (t-test * p < 0.05), while MP had no effect and differences in dc post and vl were not significant