Skip to main content
. 2019 Sep 19;6(22):1901240. doi: 10.1002/advs.201901240

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Donor neurons formed synaptic connections with descending 5‐HT‐positive nerve fibers 24 weeks after SCI. A) Overview of a longitudinal section of the spinal cord segment containing the I/G site in the NN group. Numerous donor cell processes (green) extended to the areas rostral and caudal to the I/G site, some of which were closely adjacent to 5‐HT‐positive nerve fibers (red). B) Comparison of 5‐HT‐positive areas in the I/G sites and the areas rostral or caudal in the NN, CS, and SCI groups (**p < 0.001). C) Higher magnification of the boxed area in (A) showing that 5‐HT‐positive nerve fibers were present among the dense GFP‐positive donor cell processes rostral to the I/G site. D) Some 5‐HT‐positive nerve fibers traversed into the I/G site and formed close contacts with the grafted neurons. E) 5‐HT‐positive nerve fibers were scarce in the area caudal to the I/G site. Hoe, Hochest33342. F,H) IEM showing that 5‐HT‐positive nerve fibers (labeled by nanogold particles, superimposed in light purple in (F), white arrows in (G) and (H)) formed synaptic connections with GFP‐positive donor cells (labeled by diaminobenzidine, DAB, asterisks in (F)) and resembled presynaptic components containing the vesicles as shown by nanogold particle labeling (red arrows in (G) and (H)). PSDs (arrowheads in (G) and (H)) of the donor cells were shown by DAB labeling. Scale bars = 1 mm in (A); 20 µm in (C)–(E); 1 µm in (F); 200 nm in (G) and (H).