Fig. 1

(A) Schema of the horizontal spinal cord with cavitation showing areas of confocal analysis rostral (C5 and Th7) and caudal to the lesion (L2). (B) Schema of a coronal section of the spinal cord showing the RST visualized by AAV-8-CAG-tdTomato (red) injection. Confocal images of the spinal cord displaying the RST with AAV-8-CAG-tdTomato (red) at cervical (intact, C1; vehicle, C2; MSC, C3), thoracic spinal cord above the injury (intact, C4; vehicle, C5; MSC, C6), and lumbar spinal cord (intact, C7; vehicle, C8; MSC, C9), counterstained with 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue). Heatmaps showing axon distribution at the cervical spinal cord (intact, D1; vehicle, D2; MSC, D3), thoracic spinal cord (intact, D4; vehicle, D5; MSC, D6), and lumbar spinal cord (intact, D7; vehicle, D8; MSC, D9). The dashed lines indicate the boundaries of white and gray matter. Quantitative analysis at the (1E for C5, 1 F for Th7, 1G for L2), white matter (1 H for C5, 1I for Th7, 1 J for L2), and gray matter (1 K for C5, 1 L for Th7, 1 M for L2) levels. The y-axis indicates % axonal area (1E-1 M). Data were assessed for normality using the Shapiro–Wilk test. The normally distributed data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance, and the Tukey–Kramer test was further used to compare post-hoc comparisons. Scale bars: 500 μm (C, D), 50 μm (insets). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001. (n = 5 animals/group), MSC: mesenchymal stem cell