Schellino Roberta, Boido Marina, Vercelli Alessandro
Department of Neuroscience Rita Levi Montalcini, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Front Neuroanat. 2020 Sep 4;14:572013. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2020.572013. eCollection 2020.
Onuf's nucleus is a small group of neurons located in the ventral horns of the sacral spinal cord. The motor neurons (MNs) of Onuf's nucleus innervate striated voluntary muscles of the pelvic floor and are histologically and biochemically comparable to the other somatic spinal MNs. However, curiously, these neurons also show some autonomic-like features as, for instance, they receive a strong peptidergic innervation. The review provides an overview of the histological, biochemical, metabolic, and gene expression peculiarities of Onuf's nucleus. Moreover, it describes the aging-related pathologies as well as several traumatic and neurodegenerative disorders in which its neurons are involved: indeed, Onuf's nucleus is affected in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Shy-Drager Syndrome (SDS), whereas it is spared in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). We summarize here the milestone studies that have contributed to clarifying the nature of Onuf's neurons and in understanding what makes them either vulnerable or resistant to damage. Altogether, these works can offer the possibility to develop new therapeutic strategies for counteracting neurodegeneration.
奥努夫核是位于骶髓腹角的一小群神经元。奥努夫核的运动神经元支配盆底的横纹随意肌，在组织学和生物化学上与其他躯体脊髓运动神经元相似。然而，奇怪的是，这些神经元也表现出一些类似自主神经的特征，例如，它们接受强烈的肽能神经支配。本文综述了奥努夫核的组织学、生物化学、代谢和基因表达特点。此外，还描述了与衰老相关的病理学以及其神经元所涉及的几种创伤性和神经退行性疾病：事实上，奥努夫核在帕金森病（PD）和夏伊 - 德雷格综合征（SDS）中会受到影响，而在肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）、脊髓性肌萎缩症（SMA）、杜兴氏肌营养不良症（DMD）中则不受影响。我们在此总结了一些具有里程碑意义的研究，这些研究有助于阐明奥努夫神经元的性质，并理解是什么使它们易受损伤或具有抗损伤能力。总之，这些研究成果为开发对抗神经退行性变的新治疗策略提供了可能性。
