Phase microscopy and histochemical staining of contused spinal cords. Rats were subjected to spinal cord contusion (T7) and were treated immediately with anti-MBP T cells or with PBS. After 5 months, the spinal cords from three PBS-treated controls and three anti-MBP T cell-treated rats were excised and processed for confocal microscopy. Representative micrographs from each group are shown. Note the large gap and the cysts in the neural tissues of a PBS-treated rat (a) compared with an anti-MBP T cell-treated rat (b). For comparison, a phase micrograph of a sham-operated spinal cord is included (c).