Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2019
Chronic spinal cord injury reduces gastrin releasing peptide in the spinal ejaculation generator in male rats.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes sexual dysfunction, including anejaculation in men. Likewise, chronic mid-thoracic contusion injury impairs ejaculatory reflexes in male rats. Ejaculation is controlled by a spinal ejaculation generator (SEG) comprised of a population of lumbar spinothalamic (LSt) neurons. ⋯ Finally, no changes in testosterone plasma levels or androgen receptor expression were noted after SCI. In conclusion, chronic contusion injury decreased immunoreactivity for GRP in LSt cell soma, but did not affect LSt neurons per se or LSt connections within the SEG. Since GRP is essential for triggering ejaculation, such loss may contribute to ejaculatory dysfunction following SCI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2019
Stabilization of HIF-1α by DMOG promotes the recovery of acute spinal cord injury by inhibiting neural apoptosis and enhancing axon regeneration.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological disorder that usually leads to a loss of motor and sensory function in patients. The expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is increased, and exerts a protective role after traumatic SCI. However, the endogenous activity of HIF-1α is insufficient for promoting functional recovery. ⋯ Here, we found that treatment with DMOG significantly increased the expression of HIF-1α and that the stabilization of HIF-1α induced by DMOG not only decreased the expression of apoptotic proteins to promote neural survival, but also enhanced axonal regeneration by regulating microtubule stabilization in vivo and in vitro. In addition, we found that DMOG promoted neural survival and axonal regeneration by activating autophagy, which is induced by the HIF-1α/BNIP3 signaling pathway, and that the inhibition of HIF-1α or autophagy abrogated the protective effect of DMOG, as expected. Taken together, our results demonstrate that treatment with DMOG improves functional recovery after SCI and that DMOG may serve as a potential candidate for treating SCI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2019
Proactive cortical control in spinal cord injury subjects with paraplegia.
Preparatory cortical activities were investigated in subjects with paraplegia attributed to spinal cord injury (SCI). Electroencephalogram (EEG) and behavioral data were recorded simultaneously in a visual-motor discrimination go/no-go task performed with the right upper limb. Eighteen SCI subjects participated to one, two, or three experimental sessions (Go/No-Go task), according to their availability and willingness to participate. ⋯ Interestingly, despite this posteriorization, BP amplitudes maintained the well-known correlation with RTs. Overall, SCI affects cortical reorganization independently from TFL, regarding proactive activities for action inhibition and reaction time; conversely, a TFL effect was observed in the topography changes related to the cortical areas involved in proactive motor activity. Present data are in line with growing evidence of brain changes after SCI, in particular focusing on cognitive effects and evidencing possible functional mechanisms related to motor and cognitive readiness processing, relevant for SCI rehabilitation programs.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2019
MIC-1/GDF15 overexpression is associated with increased functional recovery in traumatic spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) has devastating consequences, with limited therapeutic options; therefore, improving its functional outcome is a major goal. The outcome of SCI is contributed to by neuroinflammation, which may be a target for improved recovery and quality of life after injury. Macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1/growth differentiation factor 15 (MIC-1/GDF15) has been identified as a potential novel therapy for central nervous system (CNS) injury because it is an immune regulatory cytokine with neurotrophic properties. ⋯ This inflammatory cellular infiltrate included an increased frequency of macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) that mostly preceded recruitment of cluster of differentiation (CD)4+ and CD8+ T cells. Collectively, our findings suggest hat MIC-1/GDF15 is associated with beneficial changes in the clinical course of SCI that are characterized by altered post-injury inflammation and improved functional outcome. Further investigation of MIC-1/GDF15 as a novel therapeutic target for traumatic SCI appears warranted.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2019
Utility of trial-to-trial latency variability of somatosensory evoked potentials for diagnosis of spinal cord demyelination.
Traditional measurement of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) depends on averaging of many recordings, which introduces loss of dynamic variability. Single trial extraction provides a new measurement of SEP latency variability for evaluation of the neurodynamic status of the somatosensory pathway. ⋯ Results showed that there was a strong negative correlation of the latency variability of trial-to-trial SEP with the myelin area in three columns (DC: r=-0.90, p<0.05; VC: r=-0.91, p<0.05; LC: r=-0.89, p<0.05), and the staining intensity in three columns (DC: r=-0.95, p<0.05; VC: r=-0.94, p<0.05; LC: r=-0.93, p<0.05). These data suggest that single trial SEP can provide a dynamic indicator of spinal cord demyelination.