Figure 8.

Cytosolic phospholipase A₂ (cPLA₂) ablation reduces neuronal loss induced by spinal cord injury (SCI) at 24 hours postinjury. (A–E) SCI induced a marked loss of ventral horn neurons (NeuN immunoreactivity) at and near the site of injury in a wild-type (WT) control mouse. (F-J) In contrast, numerous neurons survived the same injury at these regions such as at 0.8mm rostral (G) and caudal (I) to the injury epicenter (arrows). (K) Statistical analysis showed that significantly more neurons survived in the ventral gray matter of the cPLA₂ knockout (KO) mice at distances 0.4 to 1.2mm rostral and caudal to the injury as compared to their WT littermates; n = 6 mice/group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus WT (nonparametric repeated measures analysis of variance, Bonferroni post hoc test). (L) Expression of active caspase-3 expression at 24 hours after SCI. In cPLA₂ KO mice, SCI-induced active caspase-3 expression was significantly reduced (p < 0.01), as compared to the WT group. Upper panel shows representative photograph of active caspase-3 expression; lower panel shows compilation of results in a bar graph; n = 6 mice/group. Data are shown as the mean ± standard error of the mean.