c., 2.5 mg/kg, Bayer, São Paulo—SP, Brazil) to prevent urinary tract infections for 14 days. Bladders were manually expressed twice a day until it was no longer distended and palpable, indicating that the animal had developed an automatic bladder voidance reflex (15–20 days). Animals were daily monitored for infections and general health throughout the post-injury

survival period. Animals did not exhibit autophagia during the experimental period. OLP and RLP were dissected according to the method described by Steward et al. (2006). Donors male Wistar rats (n = 36), 280–380 g in body weight and 13 weeks old, were decapitated. The head was bisected just off the midline in such a way as to allow visualization of the nasal septum and OB. The nasal septum was removed using microscissors and placed in a Petri dish Omipalisib in vitro selleck chemical containing Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium/Ham’s Nutrient Mixture F12 tissue culture media

(DMEN/F12, Sigma-Aldrich, USA). Olfactory mucosa bilaterally lines the posterior part of the nasal septum and its lamina propria contains OECs. Fig. 8A shows a coronal section of the olfactory mucosa, with the olfactory epithelium and OECs in lamina propria. These fusiform glial cells were identified by their immunoreactivity for p75 neurotrophin receptor (rabbit anti-p75NTR, 1:300, Sigma-Aldrich, USA, N3908), S-100 (rabbit anti-S-100, 1:600, Sigma-Aldrich, USA, S2644) and GFAP in low intensity (mouse anti-GFAP, 1:400, Sigma-Aldrich, USA, G3893) (Ramer et al., 2004 and Ramón-Cueto and Avila, 1998). Respiratory mucosa is thinner than olfactory mucosa and bilaterally covers the dorso-anterior part of the nasal septum. As shown in Fig. 8B, RLP is devoid of OECs. However,

p75, S-100 and GFAP markers alone are not exclusive to Etoposide supplier these glial cells and the staining observed in RLP could be related to the presence of Schwann cells from the trigeminal nerve (Mackay-Sim and St John, 2011). Using a scalpel, two similar sized pieces of olfactory or respiratory mucosa were dissected from the donor’s nasal septum and immediately placed in ice-cold DMEN/F12. In the respiratory tissue dissection, the vomeronasal nerve was avoided. Olfactory and respiratory tissues were separately incubated in 2.4 units/mL dispase II solution (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany, D4693) at 37 °C. After enzymatic digestion, both types of lamina propria samples were carefully separated from the epithelium using a micro-spatula under a dissection microscope and then cut into small pieces (approximately 3–4 mm2 for grafting). Then, the tissue was rinsed with Hank’s Buffered Salt Solution (HBSS, Sigma-Aldrich, Brazil) and placed in iced DMEM/F12 until transplantation into the host. The acute animal groups were transplanted immediately after spinal cord transection with RLP (AC group) or OLP (AT group). The other animal groups received RLP and OLP grafts 2 weeks post-SCI (2WDC and 2WDT groups, respectively) and 4 weeks post-SCI (4WDC and 4WDT groups, respectively).