Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Biomedical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Song, Younghye

Abstract

Traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) can cause partial sensorimotor deficiency or total dysfunction, rendering patients unable to perform necessary tasks and dramatically decreasing their quality of life. tSCI is a very prevalent issue. In the United States alone, there are approximately 54 new cases of SCI per one million people each year, or 18,000 new cases annually. tSCI creates a lesion gap filled with axon-inhibiting fibrotic scar tissue. Comprehensive functional recovery following traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) requires axonal regeneration across wound site lesions. Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurite outgrowth is often evaluated in PNI therapeutic research since it can indicate neuronal growth and repair. Parameters commonly used to analyze neurite outgrowth include neurite length, alignment, and count. In vitro DRG neurite outgrowth can be examined via Scholl or SNT analyses. The purpose of this project was to better understand DRGs in general in the context of SCI, as well as key promoters and inhibitors of neurite outgrowth, the parameters currently used to quantify DRG neurite outgrowth, and finally, the methods used to analyze these parameters.

Keywords

Keywords: neurite outgrowth; dorsal root ganglia; axonal regeneration; spinal cord injury

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