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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 2.
Published in final edited form as: Neural Regen Res. 2014 Mar 26;9(4):377–384. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.128238

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Examples of CSPG components in the ventral horn of the normal rodent spinal cord. A) Histochemical staining of transverse section from a mouse lumbar spinal cord with Wisteria Fluorobunda Lectin (WFA), which preferentially binds to carbohydrate structures terminating in N-acetylgalactosamine linked to galactose. The dark staining surrounding ventral neurons reveals strong CSPG-GAG content of the perineuronal nets as well as intercellular ECM less tightly associated with the cell soma. B) Immunostaining with monoclonal anti-neurocan antibodies show neurocan condensed around large neurons in the ventral horn of the intact rat spinal cord. C) Aggrecan is identified using monoclonal antibody, Cat301. Dense aggrecan-rich PNN structures surround a large motor neuron containing the cholinergic enzyme, choline acetyl transferase (ChAT; red). Note nearby motor neurons containing ChAT, but lacking aggrecan staining and small aggrecan-positive profiles which appear to be larger dendrites. D) Immunostaining with antibody raised against the link protein Crtl-1 reveals proximity to most large neuronal cell bodies and loosely distributed throughout the gray matter in a rat spinal cord. Scale in A–D = 50 µm.