Assessment of ventral horn size on MRI & histological measurements of the ventral horn neuron pool size.

<p>Axial image of the L4/L5 spinal cord segment following ventral root avulsion, with the spinal cord divided in a right and a left side (yellow line), and the ventral horn separated from the dorsal horn (black line). The ventral horn area is outlined on the injured (red line) and uninjured side (blue) (A). The equivalent measurement was performed in histological preparations of the spinal cord sections stained with NeuN after axotomy (B) and ventral root avulsion (C). The histogram shows the relative area ratios obtained by measurements of the ventral horn area in MRI images (D) and histological preparations (E) after ventral root avulsion (VRA) and axotomy (AXO). Error bars show S.E.M. P<0.001 is indicated by ***.