FIG. 4.

DiI injected in the muscle retrogradely stains motoneurons in the spinal cord. (A) Image taken at 10×showing a transversal section of the lumbar spinal cord. The BMCs were transplanted in the muscles of one limb, whereas DiI was injected in both limbs. There is a clear increase in the number of stained motoneurons innervating the limb in which the BMCs were injected. (B, C) Close-up of the stained motoneurons in right (B) and left (C) lumbosacral spinal cord ventral horns. (D, E) Anti-ChAT immunoreactive motoneurons in right (D) and left (E) lumbosacral spinal cord ventral horns. (F, G) GDNF expression (in red) in the motoneurons of the anterior horn of the spinal cord (L3–L5) in the control side (F) and TR side (G). Scale bar in (G) is the same for (B–G). (H) Number of DiI-stained motoneurons in the spinal cord in both the grafted and control mice. In the TR mice, there was an increase in the number of motoneurons innervating the grafted limb. (I) Histogram depicting the average values of the number of motoneurons in the left versus the right ventral horns of the spinal cord in the WT, sham control (SHAM), and TR mice. In the TR group, the left ventral horn of the spinal cord corresponds to the motoneurons that innervate the treated muscles. Values above or below 1 would indicate that there is more or less, respectively, surviving motorneurons in the left ventral horn than in the right. DiI, 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanineperchlorate; vh, ventral horn; dh, dorsal horn; MNs, motorneurons; ep, ependyma. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/scd