Retrograde Axonal Degeneration (“Dieback”) in the Corticospinal Tract after Transection Injury of the Rat Spinal Cord: A Confocal Microscopy Study

Axonal dieback is a process in which axons in spinal tracts retract away from the initial site of injury. The purpose of this project is to study the dynamics of dieback in corticospinal tract (CST) axons after various time intervals post-injury, to find the optimal spatial-temporal window for regenerative treatment. Rats received transection injuries at the T8 spinal level and were sacrificed at different time periods (1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 weeks). Three weeks prior to sacrifice, DiI crystals were implanted in the sensorimotor cortex and produced excellent CST labeling, and clear delineation of the terminal bulbs of transected axons. With DiI and confocal microscopy, we visualized axons along the entire length of the CST, and quantified the temporal and spatial features of dieback in axons of the CST based on the location of the terminal bulbs. We found that the majority of axons stopped dieing back 4 weeks after injury by which time they were approximately 2.5 mm from the site of injury. However, at 8 and 16 weeks after injury, some terminal bulbs were more than 10 and 19 mm, respectively, from the site of injury.