Figure 2.

Precision of motoneuron reinnervation after femoral nerve injury.

Representative images of wild-type (WT, A) and perforin-deficient (Pfp^–/–) (B) ventral horns (VH) containing motoneurons retrogradely labeled through the quadriceps branch with Fast Blue (blue) and through the saphenous branch with Fluoro-ruby (red). White line demarcates spinal cord gray matter from white matter, asterisks label correctly projecting, and “x” signs incorrectly projecting motoneurons. Scale bars: 50 μm. (C) The numbers of motoneurons labeled through the motor branch (correctly projecting ‘correct’), the sensory branch (incorrectly projecting ‘incorrect’), and the sum of correctly and incorrectly projecting neurons (total number, ‘total’) in wild-type (WT) and Pfp^–/– mice 2 months after injury. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, vs. WT mice (one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post hoc test). n = 6 mice/group.