Fig. 1.

Extent of perineuronal net formation around injury epicenter at 7 days following a unilateral C4 contusion injury. A: representative 20 μm-thick transverse sections from an individual unilateral C4 contusion animal displaying Wisteria floribunda agglutinin (WFA) immunoreactivity (grayscale; black reflects greater immunoreactivity) in 5 sections (∼200 μm apart), spanning 0.4 mm rostral to 0.4 mm caudal to the injury epicenter. An outline of the spinal cord section and contralateral gray matter is presented for clarity. B: summary of integrated WFA immunoreactivity (fluorescence intensity), 2.4 mm around the injury epicenter in laminectomy (n = 4) and contusion (n = 4) groups. A significant increase in perineuronal net formation was evident at a distance 0.4 mm rostral to 0.6 mm caudal to the injury site (*P < 0.001). Original scale bar, 1 mm.