Figure 3.

Chondroitinase ABC enhances anatomical reorganization of intact CTB-IR fibers. Photomicrographs illustrate CTB-IR primary afferent terminals in contralateral (A–D) and ipsilateral (F–I) spinal cord in saline-treated animals and contralateral (K–N) and ipsilateral (P–S) spinal cord in ChABC-treated animals after spared-root lesion. Horizontal dorsal horn mappings (E, J, O, T) illustrate the mediolateral distribution of CTB-IR terminals at the level of the lamina III–IV border after peripheral C7 dermatome CTB injections in spared-root-lesioned animals after vehicle (E, J) or ChABC treatment (O, T). In each graph, the midline is set at 0 μm, and the lateral extent of the dorsal columns is marked by the first dashed line; the gray matter extends between the first and second dashed lines, and the dorsolateral columns extend between second and third dashed lines. On this map, the area occupied by CTB-IR terminals is marked by the horizontal lines at different rostrocaudal levels. The rostrocaudal extent of CTB-IR terminal distribution is significantly reduced at all spinal levels on the ipsilateral side in saline treatment compared with ChABC treatment (U) (*p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA), as shown by the histogram below, in which data are expressed as average ± SEM mediolateral occupation of CTB-IR terminals.