Genetic Ablation of Soluble TNF Does Not Affect Lesion Size and Functional Recovery after Moderate Spinal Cord Injury in Mice

Figure 2

Genetic ablation of solTNF does not affect functional outcome or lesion size after SCI. (a) Analysis of BMS scores in and mice showed that genetic ablation of solTNF did not affect BMS scores after SCI. Both groups of mice improved their BMS score over time (two-way RM ANOVA; time ,  ), -11 mice/group. (b) Rung walk analysis showed that both groups of mice increased their number of mistakes after SCI (two-way RM ANOVA; time ,  , Tukey’s post hoc  ), -10 mice/group, and no differences between genotypes were observed. (c) Thermal stimulation using Hargreaves’ test showed no differences in latency time to withdraw paws between genotypes. Both groups decreased latency to remove their paws over time after SCI (two-way RM ANOVA; time ,  , Tukey’s post hoc  ), -10 mice/group. (d) Analysis of lesion volumes in Luxol Fast Blue (LFB) stained sections 35 days after SCI showed that lesion size was comparable between and mice (Mann–Whitney), –9 mice/group. (e) Representative LFB-stained thoracic spinal cord sections from and mice allowed 35-day survival after SCI. Scale bar: 100 μm. (f) Analysis of lesion volumes in GFAP-stained sections 35 days after SCI showed that lesion size was comparable between and mice (Mann–Whitney), –9 mice/group. (g) GFAP labeling (green), fluorescent Nissl (red), and DAPI (blue) staining of representative spinal cord sections from and mice allowed 35-day survival after SCI. Results are presented as mean ± SD.