Elimination of root regeneration in studies of spinal cord regeneration

In experimental studies of spinal cord regeneration, dorsal root regeneration can be erroneously interpreted as regeneration of the central axons. The present study explored the possibility of eliminating root regeneration by preliminary bilateral division of the L-1 and L-2 roots. Clinical performance as measured by the inclined plane technique showed that root transection significantly reduced motor function (p less than 0.01). As expected, root transection produced atrophic changes in the dorsal columns of the spinal cord, but in some animals there were more diffuse changes in the spinal cord, possibly due to a vascular injury. Thus, root transection is not a good adjunct to regeneration of the spinal cord because the procedure induces deleterious clinical and histologic effects.