Ernest Vallorz
The Effects of Osteogenic Protein 1 on
Axonal Regeneration in A Proteoglycan
Gradient
School
Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School,
Broadview Heights, Ohio
Program
Science Internship
Mentor
Michael Steinmetz, MD
Department
Center for Spine Health, Cleveland Clinic
- Research
- The Effects of Osteogenic Protein 1 on Axonal Regeneration in A Proteoglycan Gradient
- Hypothesis
- After spinal cord injury, a glial scar forms that inhibits the reconnection of injured axons. The current study hypothesized that Osteogenic Protein 1 causes increased sprouting and enhanced axonal regeneration in an inhibitory proteoglycan gradient.
- Methodology
- Dorsal root ganglion cells were harvested from female adult Sprague Dawley rats and plated (2000 cells/coverslip) on a spot assay containing laminin (.5ug/ml) and the inhibitory CSPG aggrecan (.7mg/ml). Coverslips were allowed to culture for five days before fixation and staining. Results were quantified using the Zeiss AxioVision 4.6 and measuring the pixel density of the axons in the spot.
- Outcomes
- Statistical analysis revealed that treatments of 40ng and 100ng of OP1 were significant (p<.05) for total axonal regeneration in the spot and that the treatments of 100ng (p<.05) and 200ng (p<.01) are also significant for density around the rim. There is a considerable difference in average pixel density around the rim between the control and the treated neurons, significant for 100ng and 200ng. This is the most promising of results because it shows that axons, in the presence of OP1, can grow into the most inhibitory region of the spot assay where ordinarily they would become dystrophic.
Interpretations
