Dorsal myelotomy in E15-E16 fetal rat: A promising paradigm in regeneration research, with serendipitous transcriptomic effects on development, of the primary afferent system.

BACKGROUND

The applied multidisciplinary approach in neuroscience has tackled the regeneration enigma in the central nervous system for decades. Reported regeneration potential in mammals is lacking confirmation without a suitable paradigm. In vivo fetal experimentation offers an almost insurmountable drawback, though its feasibility has been shown long ago. New method: Following two former technical papers on fetal surgery, here we present dorsal myelotomy in fetal rat and antegrade HRP-tracing as a suitable paradigm to reveal the intrinsic regenerative program in DRG neurons. Moreover, disclosing the spatio-temporal development of the primary afferent system appeared as an unexpected feature of the design.

CONCLUSION

this paper underlines the feasibility that fetal experimentation may offer a new venue for research into the rat transcriptome.