Figure 4

Anterograde labelling with BDA of the CST after spinal cord injury. Horizontal sections of the deep dorsal columns of low cervical spinal cord at and immediately rostral to the site of a unilateral transection of the dorsal column (including the CST) 21 days after the lesion and simultaneous anterograde labelling of the CST by application of BDA to the contralateral sensory-motor cortex, in a wild-type mouse (Fig. 4a, enlarged in Fig. 4b) and a knockout mouse (Fig. 4c, enlarged in Fig. 4d). There is no apparent enhancement of labelling in the knockout mouse relative to the wild-type, and in both examples CST axons terminate just rostral to the lesion cavity (asterisk in Figs. 4a and c), some with large end bulbs (e.g. arrows in Figs. 4b and d). The apparent labelling medial to the injury site in Fig. 4c is actually non-specific autofluorescence. The orientation markers on Figs. 4b and d show medial (m) and caudal (c). Scale bars on Figs. 4a and b = 100 μm and apply also to 4c and d.