Quantitative study of neurofilament-positive fiber length in rat spinal cord lesions using isotropic virtual planes

Spontaneous reocurrence of neurofilament (NF)-positive fibers has been described after spinal cord lesions in rats. However, previously introduced methods to evaluate the lesion and the regenerative fiber outgrowth suffer from several biases, why a new concept of quantitative, morphological analysis after spinal cord injury is needed. Length quantification of the putatively spontaneously regenerating fibers has been difficult until recently, when two length estimators based on sampling with isotropic virtual planes within thick physical sections were introduced. The applicability of these techniques to estimate the total length of NF-positive fibers was evaluated in photochemically induced ischemic lesions of thoracic spinal cords in young rats 6 weeks postlesion. Fiber length was found to be the most consistent measure with a mean of 3.71 m (coefficient of variation, CV = 0.16) in the 0.90 mm3 (CV = 0.26) large lesions. Whether or not the NF-positive fibers observed inside the lesion represent spontaneously regenerating axons needs to be confirmed in longitudinal, functional, and ultrastructural studies.