Our Ostentatious CGK 733 Conspriracy

7A; Blanco and Orkand, 1996). In the central region of the nerve are some scattered regenerating axons but also vesicular profiles, some of which were surrounded by disintegrating myelin sheaths and debris (Fig. 7B). We then investigated whether growth factor application to the two different sites had any effects on the differential distribution of axons and the microenvironment within the nerve. Optic nerve application of BDNF had only a small, but significant, effect on peripheral axons (Fig. 6A), causing a 7% increase in their numbers (P selleck chemical preferentially increased the peripheral axons (56% increase, somewhat greater than the 48% increase seen centrally, P Selleck Trichostatin A was more effective, but it caused similar increases in both peripheral and central regions (100% vs. 106% increases). For intraocular application, CNTF had a greater effect on the numbers of centrally located axons (85% increase) compared with the periphery (78% increase, P CGK 733 overall, but it still was only as effective as CNTF peripherally and as effective as FGF-2 centrally. Electron microscopic observations were made of nerves in which neurotrophic factors were applied intraocularly or to the nerve. BDNF-treated nerves appeared similar to the controls shown in Figure 7A,B, whereas FGF-2- and CNTF-treated nerves were similar in appearance, independently of the site of application. In these nerves, large bundles of axons in the periphery were associated with astrocytes, and large numbers of regenerating axons were present centrally (Fig. 7C,D). These qualitative observations support the conclusion from the axon counts that there are more axons in the neurotrophin-treated nerves but do not suggest that there are any obvious differences in the microenvironment. This study establishes a model for optic nerve regeneration in the frog Rana pipiens, first to measure the intrinsic capabilities of regeneration and second to test how axonal extension and the number of regenerating fibers are affected when exogenous neurotrophic factors are applied.