The injury response of nerve fibers in the anterior medullary velum of the adult rat

Abstract The injury response of myelinated central nervous system (CNS) axons was documented in the anterior medullary velum (AMV) of the adult rat. Study of silver-stained AMV whole-mounts revealed sprouting of injured axons as early as 14 h post-lesion (hpl), with a complex network of fibres formed by 48 hpl. Signs of fibre degeneration were also apparent from 48 hpl, increasing in extent until 15 days post-lesion (dpl). Fragmentation was largely confined to specific fibre bundles, constituted by the distal portions of severed axons. Although some degeneration of regenerated axons was evident from 15–20 dpl, many remained intact beyond this time, particularly in the area adjacent to the exit of the trochlear nerve, where most regenerated fibres penetrated the ipsilateral trochlear nerve. Counts of HRP filled neurons in the trochlear nucleus after injection of the superior oblique muscle showed that axons entering the IVth nerve rootlet were exclusively ipsilateral trochlear fibres. Less than 50% regenerated; most other severed axons degenerated. The few axons remaining in the AMV may have been fibres, undamaged by the original lesion, which normally course longitudinally through the ipsilateral AMV. These results show that IVth nerve fibres preferentially enter IVth nerve rootlets and, in so doing, survive the effects of injury. Most other CNS axons in the AMV which do not enter the trochlear root probably degenerate.