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Contusive spinal cord injury evokes localized changes in NADPH‐d activity but extensive changes in Fos‐like immunoreactivity in the rat

The histological detection of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate‐diaphorase (NADPH‐d), a marker for nitric oxide‐producing cells, was used to evaluate ongoing changes in the neural biochemistry of the rat spinal cord 1 week following contusive spinal cord injury (SCI). In addition, the immunohistochemical detection of the immediate‐early gene c‐fos was used to identify basal patterns of neural activity at this time. The numbers and laminar locations of NADPH‐d‐ and c‐fos‐positive cells were examined in spinal segments adjacent to the site of injury (T12–S3) as well as those distant from the injury (C3–C5) in both SCI and un‐injured rats. Our data show that contusive SCI results in a significant reduction in NADPH‐d labelling in the superficial dorsal horn, and a significant increase in NADPH‐d expression in small bipolar neurons and large motoneurons in the ventral horn at the site of the injury. In spinal segments distant to the injury site (C3–C5), NADPH‐d activity did not differ from that of uninjured controls. Furthermore, significant reductions in the levels of c‐fos expression were observed in SCI rats, in spinal segments both at and distant to the site of injury for all spinal laminae. The only exception was a dramatic increase observed in the sacral parasympathetic nucleus. These data suggest that increased NADPH‐d expression is related to conditions specific to the site of injury, whereas the changes in c‐fos expression probably indicate more global changes in neuronal activity following SCI.