A quantitative analysis of the retrograde axonal transport of 4 different fluorescent dyes in peripheral sensory and motor neurons and lack of anterograde transport in the corticospinal system

Many fluorescent dye compounds are transported by axons in retrograde and anterograde directions. In the present study the uptake and retrograde axonal transport of 4 chemically related fluorescent dyes was evaluated in the peripheral nervous system of adult mice. Anterograde transport was studied in the corticospinal tract of adult rats. In addition to confirming the previously reported intra-axonal transport of Rhodamine-B-isothiocyanate, we report the transport of Rhodamine-X-isothiocyanate. Sulforhodamine-101-acid chloride and Lissamine rhodamine-B-sulfonyl chloride. By using the fluorescence intensity of the labeled motor and sensory neurons as well as cell counts of fluorescently labeled motor neurons and percent of labeled dorsal root ganglia (DRG) cells, we were able to quantitate the amount of retrograde transport of a given fluorescent compound. The two dyes with isothiocyanate groups available for conjugation were transported in higher amounts compared to the dyes containing sulfonyl chloride groups. No anterograde transport in the corticospinal system was observed. We conclude that the 4 dyes described are useful for retrograde neuroanatomical tracing experiments. We describe methods for quantifying the amount of retrograde transport by peripheral motor and sensory neurons.