Validation study of neurotrophin-3-releasing chitosan facilitation of neural tissue generation in the severely injured adult rat spinal cord.

Validation study of neurotrophin-3-releasing chitosan facilitation of neural tissue generation in the severely injured adult rat spinal cord. Exp Neurol. 2018 Nov 21;: Authors: Oudega M, Hao P, Shang J, Haggerty AE, Wang Z, Sun J, Liebl DJ, Shi Y, Cheng L, Duan H, Sun YE, Li X, Lemmon VP Abstract It was previously reported that a tube holding chitosan carriers loaded with neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), after insertion into a 5 mm long transection gap in the adult rat spinal cord, triggered de novo neural tissue generation and functional recovery. Here, we report an effort to validate these findings using stringent blinding methodologies, which are crucial for robustness in reproducing biomedical studies. Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips were utilized to label rats that were randomly assigned into three experimental groups: transection with chitosan-NT-3 implant (C-NT3), transection only (T-controls), and laminectomy only (S-controls), blinding the experimenters to the treatments. Three months after surgery, animals only known by their RFID were functionally, electrophysiologically, and anatomically assessed. The data were then collected into the proper groups and statistically analyzed. Neural tissue with nestin-, Tuj1-, and NeuN-positive cells was found bridging the transection gap in C-NT3 rats, but not in T-controls. Motor- and somatosensory-evoked potentials were detected in C-NT3 rats and S-controls, but not in T-controls. ...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research