Figure 1.
A. Diagram of the surgical protocol used. One of the two large terminal branches of the sciatic nerve, the common fibular nerve (shown) of a thy-1-YFP-H mouse, was cut and repaired using a segment of the same nerve harvested from a strain-matched donor mouse. This graft was secured in place using fibrin glue. B. A typical experimental result is shown. A low magnification image taken through the surgical repair site contains the proximal stump of the cut nerve (left) containing green YFP+ axons. In this experiment, the cut common fibular nerve was repaired with a graft from a B6.129(Cg)-Gt(ROSA)26Sortm4(ACTB-tdTomato,-EGFP)Luo/J (tomato) mouse. The red fluorescence of the graft tissue (right) is in marked contrast to the green fluorescence found in the host tissue and the regenerating axons in the graft. This contrast aids in precise identification of the interface between the proximal stump and the graft (arrow). In this case, a few YFP+ axons did not invade the graft tissue. They were not measured.