Gulino Rosario, Dimartino Massimo, Casabona Antonino, Lombardo Salvatore Andrea, Perciavalle Vincenzo
Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy.
Neurosci Res. 2007 Jan;57(1):148-56. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2006.10.001. Epub 2006 Nov 2.
Several evidences have demonstrated that adult mammals could achieve a wide range of spontaneous sensory-motor recovery after spinal cord injury by means of various forms of neuroplasticity. In this study we evaluated the possibility that after low-thoracic spinal cord hemisection in the adult rat, significant hindlimb locomotor recovery could occur, and that this recovery may be driven, at least in part, by mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. In order to address these issues, we measured the expression levels of synapsin-I and brain-derived neurotrophic factor by Western blotting, at various time points after hemisection and correlated them with the motor performance on a grid walk test. Regression analysis showed that the expression of synapsin-I was strongly correlated with the spontaneous recovery of hindlimb locomotion (R=0.78). Conversely, neither the expression levels of synapsin-I nor the locomotor recovery were associated with the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Overall results indicate that after spinal cord hemisection, substantial recovery of hindlimb locomotion could occur spontaneously, and that synaptic plasticity within spinal circuitries below the level of the lesion, could be an important mechanism involved in these processes.
多项证据表明，成年哺乳动物脊髓损伤后可通过多种形式的神经可塑性实现广泛的自发感觉运动恢复。在本研究中，我们评估了成年大鼠胸段脊髓半横断后显著的后肢运动恢复是否可能发生，以及这种恢复至少部分可能由突触可塑性机制驱动。为了解决这些问题，我们在半横断后的不同时间点，通过蛋白质免疫印迹法测量了突触素-I和脑源性神经营养因子的表达水平，并将它们与网格行走试验中的运动表现相关联。回归分析表明，突触素-I的表达与后肢运动的自发恢复密切相关（R=0.78）。相反，突触素-I的表达水平和运动恢复均与脑源性神经营养因子的表达无关。总体结果表明，脊髓半横断后，后肢运动可自发实现实质性恢复，并且损伤水平以下脊髓回路中的突触可塑性可能是这些过程中的一个重要机制。
