Attempts to facilitate dorsal column axonal regeneration in a neonatal spinal environment

The response to injury of ascending collaterals of dorsal root axons within the dorsal column (DC) was studied after neonatal spinal overhemisection (OH) made at different levels of the spinal cord. The transganglionic tracer, cholera toxin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase, and the anterograde tracer, biotinylated dextran amine, were used to label dorsal root ganglion cells with peripheral axons contributing to the sciatic nerve. There was no indication of a regenerative attempt by DC axons at acute survival times (3 days and later) after cervical injury, replicating previous work done at chronic survival periods (Lahr and Stelzner [1990] J. Comp. Neurol. 293:377-398). There was also no evidence of DC regeneration after lumbar OH injury even though immunohistochemical studies using the oligodendrocyte markers Rip and myelin basic protein showed few oligodendrocytes in the gracile fasciculus at lumbar levels at birth. Therefore, the lack of myelin in the dorsal funiculus at lumbar levels does not enhance the growth of neonatally axotomized DC axons. In addition, DC axons did not regenerate when presented with fetal spinal tissue implanted into thoracic OH lesions, even though positive control experiments showed that segmental dorsal root axons containing calcition gene-related peptide and corticospinal axons grew into these implants, replicating previous work of others. When a thoracic OH lesion, with or without a fetal spinal implant, was combined with sciatic nerve injury to attempt to stimulate an intracellular regenerative response of DRG neurons, again, no evidence of DC axonal regeneration was detected. Quantitative studies of the L4 and L5 dorsal root ganglia (DRG) showed that OH injury did not result in DRG neuronal loss. However, sciatic nerve injury did result in significant post-axotomy retrograde cell loss of DRG neurons, even in groups receiving thoracic embryonic spinal implants, and is one explanation for the minimal effect of sciatic nerve injury on DC regeneration. Although fetal tissue did not appear to rescue a significant number of DRG neurons, the quantitative analysis showed an enlargement of the largest class of DRG neuron, the class that contributes to the DC projection, in all groups receiving fetal tissue implants. This apparent trophic effect did not affect DC regeneration or neuronal survival after peripheral axotomy. Further studies are needed to determine why DC axons do not regenerate in a neonatal spinal environment or within fetal tissue implants, especially because previous work by others in both the developing and adult spinal cord shows that dorsal root axons will grow within the same type of fetal spinal implant.