Figure 2.

Quantification of fluorescent axons in wholemount YFP-H peripheral nerve stumps after cut and crush injury at different time points. Depending on the extent of fragmentation, YFP positive axons from peripheral nerve stumps were assigned to the group "intact", "entirely fragmented", "fragmented with anterograde gradient" or "fragmented with retrograde gradient". The chart presents means and standard deviations. A: All partially fragmented axons that could be identified at the time points between 37 h and 42 h after cut injury were fragmented at the proximal end of the distal axon stump but not further distal, indicating an anterograde gradient of Wallerian degeneration ("fragmented with anterograde gradient"). A maximum of 9.3 % YFP positive axons with anterograde fragmentation appeared 40 h after cut injury. B: All partially fragmented axons that could be identified at the time points between 40 h and 44 h after crush injury were fragmented at their distal ends but not further proximal indicating a retrograde gradient of Wallerian degeneration ("fragmented with retrograde gradient"). A maximum of 7.2 % of YFP positive axons with retrograde fragmentation appeared 44 h after crush injury.