Deficiency in Complement C1q Improves Histological and Functional Locomotor Outcome after Spinal Cord Injury

This research investigates the role of the complement system, specifically C1q, in spinal cord injury (SCI) recovery using mice. C1q is a component of the classical complement pathway, part of the immune system. The study found that mice lacking C1q (C1q KO) showed better locomotor recovery after SCI compared to wild-type (WT) mice. This suggests that C1q may contribute to the detrimental effects following SCI. Additionally, C1q KO mice had reduced lesion volume and increased tissue sparing in the spinal cord after injury, indicating that C1q may contribute to tissue damage after SCI.

• 1
  BUB C1q KO mice exhibited greater locomotor recovery compared with BUB WT mice.
• 2
  BUB C1q KO mice showed a significant reduction in the fibronectin volume compared with BUB WT mice.
• 3
  The percentage of spared tissue in BUB C1q KO mice was significantly increased compared with BUB WT mice.