Photochemical scar ablation in chronically contused spinal cord of XXXX .

@entity131 @entity66 @entity35 @entity40 @entity1566 @entity8638
@entity66 represents a physical and molecular barrier to axonal regeneration and has become an important target for regeneration research in chronic @entity1566 . Although many methods have been proven useful for the prevention of scar formation in an @entity131 model, to date no effective method has been described to remove an existing @entity66 in a @entity8638 . The chronic lesion possesses an irregular shaped scar that lines the entire perimeter of the cavity. In the present study, we used rose bengal, a molecule commonly used for biological staining, injected into the cavity at the injury site of Long-Evans @entity35 spinal cord (5 weeks after 25-mm contusion injury). Visible light was used to illuminate the injury site. Histological observation illustrates that at least partial @entity66 is ablated by rose bengal/illumination. The lack of @entity40 ( @entity40 ) immunoreactivity at the @entity66 coupled with the reduction of @entity40 density surrounding spared tissue suggests that this photochemical scar ablation preferentially kills astrocytes at the scar tissue but also reacts, to a lesser degree, in the spared tissue. There is an observed reduction of Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scale scores after scar ablation, but it is not statistically significant from stabilized behavioral scoring prior to the scar ablation treatment. Our findings indicate that the rose bengal/illumination is feasible for ablation of the @entity66 which surrounds an irregular lesion cavity in shape. The scar ablation might provide a permissive environment for the regenerating axons when enriched by cellular or drug therapy.
