Inner and outer penetrating spinal cord injuries lead to distinct overground walking in mice.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating mechanical trauma. Although locomotion of model animals that mimic contusion SCI was actively examined, locomotion after penetrating SCI caused by sharp objects was not extensively studied. Severity of walking difficulty after partial transection of the spinal cord including penetrating SCI likely depends on the regions affected.

Spectral blue shift via intermolecular interactions in the B2 and B4 phases of a bent-shaped molecule.

A set of precise measurements of UV-Vis absorption spectrum for the classical bent-shaped molecule, P-12-OPIMB, revealed that molecular exciton interactions exist even in the mesophases of this system, as manifested as an obvious and abrupt change in the positional and spectral shape at phase-transition points. Based on Kasha's molecular exciton model, we successfully conducted a quantitative analysis of the spectral shift and could determine the local structure of the B4 phase. To the best of our knowledge, such a spectroscopic analysis for the liquid crystals has not been connected with the local structure.

Enhanced optical activity by achiral rod-like molecules nanosegregated in the B4 structure of achiral bent-core molecules.

Chirality in a mixture system consisting of bent-core 1,3-phenylene bis[4-(4-8-alkoxyphenyliminomethyl)benzoates] (P8-O-PIMB) and rod-like n-pentyl-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) molecules has been studied. Precise circular dichroism (CD) spectra using thin sample cells indicate mainly two characteristics: (1) the origin of CD signals is due to chiral-segregated bent-core molecules in the B(4) phase, where 5CB is in the isotropic phase; (2) the enhanced CD signal is detected in the B(X) phase, where 5CB is in the nematic phase. These results suggest that 5CB molecules are embedded in the network of helical nanofilaments formed by P8-O-PIMB and form helical superstructure with the same handedness as the helical nanofilaments in the B(X) phase, resulting in the giant CD signals.