Fig. 7: Functional scaffold implantation decreases the secretion of inhibitory transmitters and maintains the synaptic functions of neurons in the lumbar spinal cords.

a Pie plots showing the proportion of neurons with different neurotransmitters at six months. b Immunostaining images showing the distribution of inhibitory neurotransmitters (GABA) in the lumbar six months after SCI and scaffold implantation. Scale bar, 100 μm. c, d Quantitative analysis showing the proportion of GABA-positive neurons in the dorsal horn and mean fluorescence intensity of GABA-positive signal in the ventral horn of the lumbar six months after SCI and scaffold implantation. Data shown as mean ± SEM, n = 5 slices per group. **P = 0.0021 (c) ; 0.0014 (d), two-sided Student’s t test. e Dot plots showing the expression of genes about the regulation of trans-synaptic signaling, synapse organization, and membrane potential in neurons of lumbar six months after SCI and scaffold implantation. The size of the dot indicates the percentage of cells in which that gene is detected and the color bar is scaled with the average expression of the corresponding genes. f, g Enriched biological process and molecular function of the upregulated genes of neurons in the lumbar six months after scaffold implantation. P values (adjusted) were calculated using Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.