Spinal Cord Injury and Wnt Signaling

Experiments were performed on late larval sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus, 10–13 cm; ~5–7 years old), in accordance with institutional IACUC regulations and included in experimental protocols approved by The Marine Biological Laboratory and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Spinal cord transections, behavioral recovery scoring, and tissue histochemistry were performed as described previously^{18 (link),27 (link)}. To block Wnt signaling, Wnt-C59, (Selleckchem; Houston, TX) was added (10μM in 0.1% DMSO/PBS) at the time and site of spinal injury via a small piece of Gelfoam (Pfizer, NY, NY). Animals undergoing spinal cord injury and treated with vehicle (0.1% DMSO/PBS) were used as controls. These manipulations slowed the trajectory of functional recovery (Fig. 7b-vehicle), compared to recovery without any manipulations (Fig. 1c), which is due to insertion of the Gelfoam.