title: Temporal profile of endogenous anatomical repair and functional recovery following spinal cord injury in adult zebrafish.
abstract: Regenerated cerebrospinal axons are considered to be involved in the spontaneous recovery of swimming ability following a spinal cord injury in adult zebrafish. We employed behavioral analysis, neuronal tracing, and immunocytochemistry to determine the exact temporal relationship between swimming ability and regenerated cerebrospinal axon number in adult zebrafish with a complete spinal cord transection. Between two and eight weeks post-lesion, swimming gradually improved to 44% of sham-injured zebrafish. Neurons within the reticular formation, magnocellular octaval nucleus, and nucleus of the medial longitudinal fascicle grew their axon across and at least four millimeters beyond the lesion. The largest increases in swimming ability and number of regenerated cerebrospinal axons were observed between two and four weeks post-lesion. Regression analyses revealed a significant correlation between swimming ability and the number of regenerated axons. Our results indicate the involvement of cerebrospinal axons in swimming recovery after spinal cord injury in adult zebrafish.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vajn
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Suler
authors.affiliation: School of Science Technology and Engineering Management, St. Thomas University, Miami Gardens, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeffery A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Plunkett
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oudega
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013550:Swimming; D015027:Zebrafish