Fig. 5.

Recovery of sensory and motor functions after sciatic nerve crush. Using sharpened forceps, a prick was given to the footpads of wild-type and knock-out (tPA−/−, uPA−/−, and plasminogen−/−) mice after sciatic nerve crush. The amount of time (in days) to elicit an initial response, as shown by a vocalization and foot withdrawal, was recorded. tPA−/− and uPA−/− mice were significantly delayed compared with wild-type mice on the footpad test. Plasminogen−/− mice were comparable with their wild-type counterparts. Time (in days) of the first indication of a return of the toe-spreading reflex was also noted by examining for lateral extension of the hindlimb accompanied by a foot flexure. Return of the toe-spreading reflex was significantly delayed for all knock-out mice compared with wild-type mice. For each test, uPA−/− mice were the most adversely affected (*p ≤ 0.05;n = 5).