Fig. 3

Histopathological outcomes. A Coronal spinal cord sections in 20 µm thickness post solvent blue/H&E stain showed histopathological defects in the SCI group only (scale bar: 1 mm). Injured spinal cord sections at and around the epicenter exhibited damages in the white matter and gray matter (e.g., cavities and lesion areas). The injured tissues also contained a large number of basophilic inflammatory cells (stained by hematoxylin) and intra-cavity loose webs of non-neural tissues. B, C T8 spinal cord sections that were ~ 5 mm rostral to T10 injury site (B; framed areas were magnified in C), had apparent demyelination (i.e., hypostained by solvent blue) and infiltration of inflammatory cells in both white matter and gray matter (C). D, E Area measurement of representative coronal sections at the injury site (i.e., 0 mm) and 1–3 mm rostral and caudal to it, revealed that compared to the control group, T10 compression significantly reduced the mean residual white matter (D) and gray matter areas (E) at the epicenter, and in spinal cord loci 1 and 2 mm adjacent to it (p < 0.05; two-way repeated measures ANOVA with Sidak’s post hoc test; n = 7/group)