Submission Date

4-23-2018

Document Type

Paper- Restricted to Campus Access

Department

Biology

Adviser

Ellen Dawley

Committee Member

Ellen Dawley

Committee Member

Anthony Lobo

Committee Member

Talia Argondezzi

Department Chair

Beth Bailey

Project Description

A major participant in neural regeneration is the transcription factor Sox2. It is expressed in neural stem cells, likely contributing to central nervous system restoration. The axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum, exhibits extensive spinal cord regeneration following tail amputation and is therefore an excellent model organism. In an attempt to quantify the upregulation of Sox2 at different regeneration times, I performed tail amputations on juvenile axolotls. Following initial amputation/injury, secondary amputations were completed at the two-day, four-day, seven-day, or fourteen-day regeneration marks. For the second phase of the experiment, I evaluated the effect of multiple secondary amputations on Sox2 expression, to see if it was negatively impacted. For both experimental groups, immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy were used to identify Sox2 cells. Later work focused solely on Sox2 while standardizing the data using the following regions of the spinal cord: 250, 500, 750 and 1000 micrometers from the injury site. With this research I hope to enhance our understanding of the regeneration process and the roles and limitations of neural progenitor cells.

Download

Share

COinS