Dorsal myelotomy in E15–E16 fetal rat: A promising paradigm in regeneration research, with serendipitous transcriptomic effects on development, of the primary afferent system.

The applied multidisciplinary approach in neuroscience has tackled the regeneration enigma in the central nervous system for decades. Reported regeneration potential in mammals is lacking confirmation without a suitable paradigm. In vivo fetal experimentation offers an almost insurmountable drawback, though its feasibility has been shown long ago. New method : Following two former technical papers on fetal surgery, here we present dorsal myelotomy in fetal rat and antegrade HRP-tracing as a suitable paradigm to reveal the intrinsic regenerative program in DRG neurons. Moreover, disclosing the spatio-temporal development of the primary afferent system appeared as an unexpected feature of the design. this paper underlines the feasibility that fetal experimentation may offer a new venue for research into the rat transcriptome. • unique phenotypes in primary afferent system development. • transcriptomic perturbations on the assembly line in display. • hypoxia induced delay in developing fetal spinal cord. • for research into the regeneration program before the developmental switch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]