title: Basophils are dispensable for the recovery of gross locomotion after spinal cord hemisection injury.
abstract: Basophils are the smallest population of granulocytes found in the circulation. They have crucial and nonredundant roles in allergic disorders, in protection from parasite infections, in autoimmunity, and in the regulation of type 2 immunity. They share phenotypic and functional properties with mast cells, which exert substantial protective effects after traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, although they are considered one of the most proinflammatory cell types in the body. In contrast, the in vivo functions of basophils in central nervous system trauma are still obscure and not well studied. In this study, we show that by comparing spinal cord injury in wild type vs. basophil-deficient Mcpt8Cre transgenic mice, the locomotor recovery is not affected in mice depleted in basophils. In addition, no substantial differences were observed in the lesion size and in the astrocytic and macrophage/microglia reaction between both mouse strains. Hence, despite the multiple properties shared with mast cells, these data show, for the first time, to our knowledge, that basophils are dispensable for the functional recovery process after hemisection injury to the spinal cord in mice.
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Geurts
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vangansewinkel
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lemmens
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nelissen
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Lies
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Geboes
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Voehringer
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Morphology and Cell Physiology, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Department of Infection Biology, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nüremberg, Erlangen, Germany sven.hendrix@uhasselt.be.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hendrix
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001491:Basophils / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008124:Locomotion; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000276:immunology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Mcpt8Cre; basso mouse scale; central nervous system damage; mast cells