The plasticity of the DRG neurons belonging to different subpopulations after dorsal rhizotomy

1. The plasticity of sensory neurons following the injury to their axons is very important for prognosis of recovery of afferent fibers with different modality. It is evident that the response of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons after peripheral axotomy is different depending on the deficiency in neurotrophic factors from peripheral region. The loss of cells appears earlier and is more severe in B-cells (small, dark cells with unmyelinated axons) than in A-cells (large, light cells with myelinated axons). 2. We studied using immunohistochemical methods the response of DRG neurons to dorsal rhizotomy and combined injury of central and peripheral neuronal processes. A quantitative analysis of DRG neurons tagged by the selective markers isolectin B4 (IB4) and the heavy molecular component of the neurofilament triplet (NF200) antibody, selective for subpopulations of small and large/medium DRG neurons, respectively, was performed after dorsal rhizotomy, peripheral axotomy, and their combination. 3. The number of NF200(+)-neurons is reduced substantially after both dorsal rhizotomy and peripheral axotomy, while the decrease of IB4(+)-neurons is observed only in combined injury, i.e., dorsal rhizotomy accompanied with sciatic nerve injury. 4. Our results show that distinct subpopulations of DRG neurons respond differently to the injury of their central processes. The number of NF200(+)-neurons decreases to greater degree following dorsal rhizotomy in comparison to IB4(+)-neurons.