fluid-filled cavities whose borders consisted of densely packed AQP4-
expressing astrocytes closely resembling the organization of normal
glia limitans externa,
in contrast to large cavities in control SCI rats
that lacked
glia-limitans
-like borders and contained reactive glial
cells. Given that we found that TMX affects both oligodendrocytes
and astrocytes in injured spinal cords, we used an
in vitro
model of
glia progenitor cells to test the hypothesis that TMX acts on glia
progenitors in injured spinal cords. By using rodent glia progenitors
in vitro
, and different experimental paradigms, we found that TMX
induces differentiation of glia progenitors towards both oligodendro-
cytes and astrocytes. In sum, our data strongly suggest that TMX is a
promising candidate for the therapeutic treatment of SCI, in part by
promoting differentiation of glia progenitors and by normalizing
functions of both oligodendrocytes and astrocytes in injured spinal
cords.
Keywords: rat spinal cord injury, motor recovery, tamoxifen, glia
progenitors
B3-06
CROSS-SECTIONAL DIFFERENCES IN FRACTIONAL ANI-
SOTROPY WITHOUT LONGITUDINAL EVIDENCE OF RE-
COVERY BY ONE MONTH POST-CONCUSSION
Timothy Meier
1,2
, Maurizio Bergamino
2
, Patrick Bellgowan
3
, Josef
Ling
1
,
Andrew Mayer
1
1
The Mind Research Network, LBERI, Albuquerque, USA
2
Laureate Institute for Brain Research, LIBR, Tulsa, USA
3
NINDS, NIH, North Bethesda, USA
Changes in white matter structure are hypothesized as one conse-
quence of sports-related concussion (SRC). However, the timeframe
for recovery of these deficits has not been established. We assessed
longitudinal changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) in 40 collegiate
athletes (20.1
–
1.4 year old) across acute and sub-acute timeframe
post-concussion. Concussed athletes completed serial scanning ses-
sions at one day (T1; n
=
33, 1.64 days post), one week (T2; n
=
30,
8.3 days post), and one month (T3; n
=
26, 32.2 days) post-concus-
sion. Forty-six healthy contact sport athletes served as controls (HC;
20.3
–
1.5 years old). Structured interviews for anxiety and depres-
sion were used to assess concussion symptoms. Diffusion tensor
imaging (30 non-collinear directions, b-value
=
1000 s/mm
2
) was
performed using a GE 3-T scanner. Both region-of-interest and
voxel-wise analyses were conducted to assess longitudinal and cross-
sectional differences in FA. Results demonstrated longitudinal evi-
dence of recovery for both anxiety and depression scores by one
month post-concussion (F’s
>
20, p’s
<
0.001). In contrast, no sig-
nificant differences in FA were observed across the acute and sub-
acute period post-concussion. However, cross-sectional comparisons
indicated increased FA for concussed athletes at T1 in the bilateral
superior longitudinal fasciculi, right sagittal stratum, right forceps
minor, right internal capsule, bilateral superior cerebellar peduncles,
and left corona radiata. Differences in FA persisted at T2 and T3
relative to HC in all regions (p’s
<
0.05). Exploratory analyses found
that return-to-play time was positively correlated with behavioral
scores at T1 (rho’s
>
0.42, p’s
<
0.05), and with FA at both T1 and T3
(rho’s
>
0.43, p’s
<
0.05). These results demonstrate that white matter
deficits following SRC extend beyond the typical period of symptom
resolution for most clinical symptoms (e.g., balance, cognitive
testing, and self-reported emotional sequelae). The relationship be-
tween FA, clinical measures, and plasma tau concentrations in a
subset of participants (19/19/12/18; T1/T2/T3/HC) will be explored
in the future.
Keywords: concussion, diffusion, athletes
B3-07
TRANSPLANTATION OF EMBRYONIC SPINAL CORD DE-
RIVED CELLS INTO TRANSECTED PERIPHERAL NERVE
TO PREVENT MUSCULAR ATROPHY
Carolin Ruven
, Wutian Wu
The University of Hong Kong, Department of Anatomy, Hong Kong,
Hong Kong
An average human body contains around 45 miles of nerves essential
for our life. So what happens when just a small part like one nerve
will be injured? In serious injury, the connection between spinal cord
and the target organ will be lost resulting in the muscle atrophy.
Luckily, regeneration in PNS is possible and many surgical ap-
proaches can be implied. However, most nerves in the human body
are too long for the slow regeneration and treatment methods to
prevent the muscle atrophy during the regeneration time should be
applied in addition to the surgical approach. In this project, cells
isolated from E14 rat embryos’ spinal cords were injected into the
distal side of transected musculocutaneous nerve in hope that they
are able to prevent the muscle atrophy. We tested cells isolated from
spinal cord different segments (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) as
well as directly isolated fetal cells that mostly contain neurons (P0
cells) and cultured neural progenitor cells (P2 cells). Our results
show that cells were able to survive and help to retain the muscle
fiber size that was 31%, 70% and 51% (p
<
0.001) of uninjured side
in control, P0 cell and P2 cell group, respectively. Furthermore,
motor endplates in control animals were smaller (205
–
50
l
m) and
had either shrunken or fragmented appearance while in cell treat-
ment groups endplates were bigger (278
–
23
l
m in P0 and
241
–
11
l
m in P2 cell group) and 20–40% of them showed normal
pretzel-like structure. In electromyographic studies, stimulation of
transected nerve with cell transplantation was able to induce the
response in biceps brachii while no response was seen in the control
group. Interestingly, P0 cells survived and were able to reduce
muscle atrophy more than P2 cells whereas the cells from lumbar
segment showed the best results. In conclusion, cells isolated from
embryonic spinal cord are able to reduce the muscle atrophy and
therefore they hold a great promise for the future of treatment of
peripheral nerve injuries.
Keywords: muscle atrophy, cell transplantation, neuron replace-
ment, fetal spinal cord cells, peripheral nerve injury
B3-08
STABILIZING MICROTUBULES AFTER TRAUMATIC AX-
ONAL INJURY MITIGATES ACCUMULATION OF TAU,
CALCIUM INFLUX AND AXONAL DEGENERATION
Jean-Pierre Dolle
, Andrew Jaye, Victoria Johnson, Douglas Smith
University of Pennsylvania, Neurosurgery, Philadelphia, USA
Introduction:
Traumatic axonal injury (TAI), a common conse-
quence of traumatic brain injury (TBI), can result in mechanical
damage of microtubules and influx of calcium, in concert with un-
binding of the microtubule-stabilizing protein, tau, in axons and its
accumulation in the neuronal soma. Here, we examined the effects
microtubule stabilization treatment using Taxol on outcome of TAI
using a well-characterized in-vitro model of dynamic axon stretch-
injury.
Methods:
Primary cortical neurons were grown on micropatterned
deformable silastic membranes, whereby a series of parallel 2 mm-
long lanes containing only axons spanned two populations of neuronal
A-52