There is no loss of motor neurons in the rat spinal cord during postnatal maturation

Motor neurons are lost during embryonic development, but it remains controversial whether motor neuron cell death occurs during postnatal life. In this study we investigated the effect of postnatal maturation on the number of intact spinal motor neurons in the rat using retrograde labelling with model-based counting, and an unbiased stereological counting technique. To determine the number of motor neurons innervating a specific forelimb muscle in rats of different postnatal ages FluoroGold was injected into the flexor carpi radialis. Before postnatal day 21 there were higher numbers of retrogradely labelled motor neurons than in adult rats, suggesting a 'loss' with postnatal maturation. This loss may be attributed to tracer diffusion to adjacent muscles and to the permeability of the muscle spindle capsule in younger animals. To obtain an unbiased estimate of the number of motor neurons in the C7 and C8 segments of the postnatal rat cervical spinal cord the fractionator/optical disector counting technique was used. This method did not show a loss of spinal motor neurons between birth and adulthood. The main conclusion from this study is that there is no loss of spinal motor neurons during postnatal maturation.