Fig. 6: Functional scaffold implantation promotes axon regeneration and improves the microenvironment of the injury area. | Nature Communications

Fig. 6: Functional scaffold implantation promotes axon regeneration and improves the microenvironment of the injury area.

From: Single-cell analysis reveals region-heterogeneous responses in rhesus monkey spinal cord with complete injury

Fig. 6

a Immunostaining of NF and GFAP showing the axonal regeneration in the injury area six months after SCI and scaffold implantation. The areas in the white boxes are magnified. SCI and LOCS + CTX represent injured spinal cord without or with scaffold implantation respectively. Scale bar, 500 μm on the left and 100 μm on the right. b Quantification of the number of NF-positive neural fibers along the distance from the rostral boundary of the injury area in two groups. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, n = 7 per group. **p = 0.0015 (4.0 mm); 0.0051 (4.5 mm), ***p = 0.0002 (0.5 mm); 0.0003 (2.5 mm); 0.0004 (3.0 mm), #p < 0.0001 (1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm, 3.5 mm), two-sided Student’s t test at each distance. c Bar plot showing the cellular proportion in the injury area six months after SCI and scaffold implantation. d Immunostaining for APC showing the distribution of oligodendrocytes in the injury area at six months. The areas in the white boxes are magnified. Scale bar, 500 μm in each left panel, 50 μm in panels 1 and 2. e Immunostaining for MPZ showing the distribution of Schwann cells in the injury area at six months. The areas in the white boxes are magnified. Scale bar, 500 μm in each left panel, 100 μm in panels 1 and 2. f, g Quantitative analysis showing the mean number of oligodendrocytes (APC+) and Schwann cells (MPZ+) in the injury area. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, n = 4 slices per group. **P = 0.0037, ***P = 0.0002, two-sided Student“s t test. h Dot plot showing the expression of growth factors in the injury area at six months. The size of the dot indicates the percentage of cells in which that gene is detected and the color bar is scaled with the average expression of the corresponding genes. i GO enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes of Schwann cells compared with other cells. P values (adjusted) were calculated using Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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