Serum Response Factor Promotes Axon Regeneration Following Spinal Cord Transection Injury

Overview

Journal Neural Regen Res

Date 2023 Mar 17

PMID 36926719

Authors

Guo-Ying Feng

Nai-Li Zhang

Xiao-Wei Liu

Ling-Xi Tong

Chun-Lei Zhang

Shuai Zhou

Lu-Ping Zhang

Fei Huang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Studies have shown that serum response factor is beneficial for axonal regeneration of peripheral nerves. However, its role after central nervous system injury remains unclear. In this study, we established a rat model of T9-T10 spinal cord transection injury. We found that the expression of serum response factor in injured spinal cord gray matter neurons gradually increased with time, reached its peak on the 7 day, and then gradually decreased. To investigate the role of serum response factor, we used lentivirus vectors to overexpress and silence serum response factor in spinal cord tissue. We found that overexpression of serum response factor promoted motor function recovery in rats with spinal cord injury. Qualitative observation of biotinylated dextran amine anterograde tracing showed that overexpression of serum response factor increased nerve fibers in the injured spinal cord. Additionally, transmission electron microscopy showed that axon and myelin sheath morphology was restored. Silencing serum response factor had the opposite effects of overexpression. These findings suggest that serum response factor plays a role in the recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury. The underlying mechanism may be related to the regulation of axonal regeneration.

Citing Articles

EZH2-dependent myelination following sciatic nerve injury.

Zhu H, Mu L, Xu X, Huang T, Wang Y, Xu S Neural Regen Res. 2024; 20(8):2382-2394.

PMID: 39359095 PMC: 11759024. DOI: 10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-23-02040.

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