Al’joboori, YD, Edgerton, VR and Ichiyama, RM orcid.org/0000-0002-7640-8032 (2020) Effects of Rehabilitation on Perineural Nets and Synaptic Plasticity Following Spinal Cord Transection. Brain Sciences, 10 (11). 824. ISSN 2076-3425
Abstract
Epidural electrical stimulation (ES) of the lumbar spinal cord combined with daily locomotor training has been demonstrated to enhance stepping ability after complete spinal transection in rodents and clinically complete spinal injuries in humans. Although functional gain is observed, plasticity mechanisms associated with such recovery remain mostly unclear. Here, we investigated how ES and locomotor training affected expression of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPG), perineuronal nets (PNN), and synaptic plasticity on spinal motoneurons. To test this, adult rats received a complete spinal transection (T9–T10) followed by daily locomotor training performed under ES with administration of quipazine (a serotonin (5-HT) agonist) starting 7 days post-injury (dpi). Excitatory and inhibitory synaptic changes were examined at 7, 21, and 67 dpi in addition to PNN and CSPG expression. The total amount of CSPG expression significantly increased with time after injury, with no effect of training. An interesting finding was that γ-motoneurons did not express PNNs, whereas α-motoneurons demonstrated well-defined PNNs. This remarkable difference is reflected in the greater extent of synaptic changes observed in γ-motoneurons compared to α-motoneurons. A medium negative correlation between CSPG expression and changes in putative synapses around α-motoneurons was found, but no correlation was identified for γ-motoneurons. These results suggest that modulation of γ-motoneuron activity is an important mechanism associated with functional recovery induced by locomotor training under ES after a complete spinal transection.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | spinal cord injury; rehabilitation; chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans; neuromodulation; gamma motoneuron |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biomedical Sciences (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number MRC (Medical Research Council) MR/K022911/1 Int Spinal Research Trust *do not use* STR104 Int Spinal Research Trust *do not use* NRB107 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Nov 2020 14:17 |
Last Modified: | 19 Nov 2020 14:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/brainsci10110824 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168154 |