title: A re-assessment of the effects of intracortical delivery of inosine on transmidline growth of corticospinal tract axons after unilateral lesions of the medullary pyramid.
abstract: This study was undertaken as part of the NIH "Facilities of Research Excellence-Spinal Cord Injury", which supports independent replication of published studies. Here, we repeat an experiment reporting that intracortical delivery of inosine promoted trans-midline growth of corticospinal tract (CST) axons in the spinal cord after unilateral injury to the medullary pyramid. Rats received unilateral transections of the medullary pyramid and 1 day later, a cannula assembly was implanted into the sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the pyramidotomy to deliver either inosine or vehicle. The cannula assembly was attached to an osmotic minipump that was implanted sub-cutaneously. Seventeen or 18 days post-injury, the CST was traced by making multiple injections of miniruby-BDA into the sensorimotor cortex. Rats were killed for tract tracing 14 days after the BDA injections. Sections through the cervical spinal cord were stained for BDA and immunostained for GAP43 and GFAP. Our results revealed no evidence for enhanced growth of CST axons across the midline of the dorsal column in rats that received intracortical infusion of inosine. Possible reasons for the failure to replicate are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Reeve-Irvine Research Center, University of California at Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA 92697-4265, USA. osteward@uci.edu
authors.forename: Oswald
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Steward
authors.forename: Kelli
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: Kelly Matsudaira
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Yee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D007288:Inosine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000187:drug effects / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D007288:Inosine