Credit: Cincinnati Children's
This microscopic image shows corticospinal neurons and synaptic connections to the spinal cord in a mouse. Spinal interneurons (blue) show synaptic connections (in green) with corticospinal axons (red). Researchers report in Cell Reports the mapping of critical nerve connections to the spine that drive voluntary movement in forelimbs. The gridlines allow scientists to plot the neuron locations along the spinal cord. Scientists say the information will be useful as they begin searching in future preclinical studies for specific repair strategies to help people who had a stroke or spinal cord injury.