bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/410258; this version posted September 6, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Title Microglia limit lesion expansion and promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury in mice Abbreviated title Microglia protect the injured spinal cord Authors Faith H. Brennan1, Jodie C.E. Hall1, Zhen Guan1, and Phillip G. Popovich1* 1Department of Neuroscience, Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus 43210, OH, USA. *Corresponding author: Phillip G. Popovich, Ph.D. 694 Biomedical Research Tower, 460 W 12th Ave The Ohio State University Columbus, OH 43210, USA Email:
[email protected] Conflict of Interest The authors declare no competing financial interests. Acknowledgements This work is supported by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation (FHB), The National Institutes of Health (R01NS099532 and R01NS083942 to PGP) and the Ray W. Poppleton Endowment (PGP). The authors thank Andrey Reymar (Plexxikon, Inc.) and Steven Yeung (Research Diets Inc.) for providing Vehicle and PLX5622 diets. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/410258; this version posted September 6, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Abstract Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) elicits a robust intraspinal inflammatory reaction that is dominated by at least two major subpopulations of macrophages, i.e., those derived from resident microglia and another from monocytes that infiltrate the injury site from the circulation.