Regeneration in the Cord of Spinal Monkeys

Abstract

The spinal cord was transected, in 18 African green monkeys, at the lower thoracic or upper lumbar levels. Beginning immediately after severance of the spinal cord, the bacterial polysaccharide, Piromen, was administered to some monkeys while others received placebos. After 57-340 days the animals were killed and the appropriate regions of the spinal cord studied histologi-cally using neurological staining techniques. Some regeneration of intraspinal neurones occurred in the spinal monkeys under therapy with Piromen, which, in some way, played a permissive role. Even under the most favorable conditions, regeneration of intraspinal neurones was slight in contrast to the results obtained with cats and with extramedullary spinal nerve root fibers. The intraspinal fibers were soon choked off by the development of a dense collagenous scar and no functional restitution ensued.