The fibroblast growth factor binding protein (FGF-BP; GenBank accession no. NP_005121) is a secreted protein that mobilizes FGFs from the extracellular matrix, protects them from degradation, and enhances their biological activity. Several previous studies reported that FGF-BP is an early response gene upregulated during tissue repair processes including wound healing and atherogenesis. In this...

Retrograde tracing techniques were used to identify supraspinal neurons that project to sacral, lumbar and cervical levels of the spinal cord in the gray short-tailed Brazilian opossum, Monodelphis domestica. Injections of Fast Blue, True Blue or wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase into the sacral or lumbar cord labeled neurons in hypothalamic and brainstem nuclei reporte...

Although corticospinal tract axons cannot regenerate long distances after spinal cord injury, they are able to sprout collateral branches rostral to an injury site that can help form compensatory circuits in cases of incomplete lesions. We show here that inosine enhances the formation of compensatory circuits after a dorsal hemisection of the thoracic spinal cord in mature rats and improves coo...

CNS axons rarely regenerate spontaneously back to original targets following spinal cord injury (SCI). Neuronal expression of the serine protease tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) enhances axon growth in vitro and following PNS injury. Here we test the hypothesis that neuronal overexpression of tPA in adult transgenic mice promotes CNS axon regeneration and functional recovery following S...

Our previous studies on rabbits demonstrated that the ventral spinal pathways are of primary importance for postural control in the hindquarters. After ventral hemisection, postural control did not recover, whereas after dorsal or lateral hemisection it did. The aim of this study was to examine postural capacity of rabbits after more extensive lesion (3/4 section of the spinal cord at T(12) lev...

The microenvironment of the injured spinal cord is hypothesized to be involved in driving the differentiation and survival of engrafted neural stem cells (NSCs). Hypothermia is known to improve the microenvironment of the injured spinal cord in a number of ways. To investigate the effect of NSC transplantation in combination with hypothermia on the recovery of rat spinal cord injury, 60 Sprague...