NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND: A major class of axon growth-repulsive molecules associated with CNS scar tissue is the family of chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs). Experimental spinal cord injury (SCI) has demonstrated rapid re-expression of CSPGs at and around the lesion site. The pharmacological digestion o...

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Autores principales: Buss, Armin, Pech, Katrin, Kakulas, Byron A, Martin, Didier, Schoenen, Jean, Noth, Johannes, Brook, Gary A
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2725028/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19604403
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2377-9-32
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author Buss, Armin
Pech, Katrin
Kakulas, Byron A
Martin, Didier
Schoenen, Jean
Noth, Johannes
Brook, Gary A
author_facet Buss, Armin
Pech, Katrin
Kakulas, Byron A
Martin, Didier
Schoenen, Jean
Noth, Johannes
Brook, Gary A
author_sort Buss, Armin
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: A major class of axon growth-repulsive molecules associated with CNS scar tissue is the family of chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs). Experimental spinal cord injury (SCI) has demonstrated rapid re-expression of CSPGs at and around the lesion site. The pharmacological digestion of CSPGs in such lesion models results in substantially enhanced axonal regeneration and a significant functional recovery. The potential therapeutic relevance of interfering with CSPG expression or function following experimental injuries seems clear, however, the spatio-temporal pattern of expression of individual members of the CSPG family following human spinal cord injury is only poorly defined. In the present correlative investigation, the expression pattern of CSPG family members NG2, neurocan, versican and phosphacan was studied in the human spinal cord. METHODS: An immunohistochemical investigation in post mortem samples of control and lesioned human spinal cords was performed. All patients with traumatic SCI had been clinically diagnosed as having "complete" injuries and presented lesions of the maceration type. RESULTS: In sections from control spinal cord, NG2 immunoreactivity was restricted to stellate-shaped cells corresponding to oligodendrocyte precursor cells. The distribution patterns of phosphacan, neurocan and versican in control human spinal cord parenchyma were similar, with a fine reticular pattern being observed in white matter (but also located in gray matter for phosphacan). Neurocan staining was also associated with blood vessel walls. Furthermore, phosphacan, neurocan and versican were present in the myelin sheaths of ventral and dorsal nerve roots axons. After human SCI, NG2 and phosphacan were both detected in the evolving astroglial scar. Neurocan and versican were detected exclusively in the lesion epicentre, being associated with infiltrating Schwann cells in the myelin sheaths of invading peripheral nerve fibres from lesioned dorsal roots. CONCLUSION: NG2 and phosphacan were both present in the evolving astroglial scar and, therefore, might play an important role in the blockade of successful CNS regeneration. Neurocan and versican, however, were located at the lesion epicentre, associated with Schwann cell myelin on regenerating peripheral nerve fibres, a distribution that was unlikely to contribute to failed CNS axon regeneration. The present data points to the importance of such correlative investigations for demonstrating the clinical relevance of experimental data.
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spelling pubmed-27250282009-08-12 NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury Buss, Armin Pech, Katrin Kakulas, Byron A Martin, Didier Schoenen, Jean Noth, Johannes Brook, Gary A BMC Neurol Research Article BACKGROUND: A major class of axon growth-repulsive molecules associated with CNS scar tissue is the family of chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs). Experimental spinal cord injury (SCI) has demonstrated rapid re-expression of CSPGs at and around the lesion site. The pharmacological digestion of CSPGs in such lesion models results in substantially enhanced axonal regeneration and a significant functional recovery. The potential therapeutic relevance of interfering with CSPG expression or function following experimental injuries seems clear, however, the spatio-temporal pattern of expression of individual members of the CSPG family following human spinal cord injury is only poorly defined. In the present correlative investigation, the expression pattern of CSPG family members NG2, neurocan, versican and phosphacan was studied in the human spinal cord. METHODS: An immunohistochemical investigation in post mortem samples of control and lesioned human spinal cords was performed. All patients with traumatic SCI had been clinically diagnosed as having "complete" injuries and presented lesions of the maceration type. RESULTS: In sections from control spinal cord, NG2 immunoreactivity was restricted to stellate-shaped cells corresponding to oligodendrocyte precursor cells. The distribution patterns of phosphacan, neurocan and versican in control human spinal cord parenchyma were similar, with a fine reticular pattern being observed in white matter (but also located in gray matter for phosphacan). Neurocan staining was also associated with blood vessel walls. Furthermore, phosphacan, neurocan and versican were present in the myelin sheaths of ventral and dorsal nerve roots axons. After human SCI, NG2 and phosphacan were both detected in the evolving astroglial scar. Neurocan and versican were detected exclusively in the lesion epicentre, being associated with infiltrating Schwann cells in the myelin sheaths of invading peripheral nerve fibres from lesioned dorsal roots. CONCLUSION: NG2 and phosphacan were both present in the evolving astroglial scar and, therefore, might play an important role in the blockade of successful CNS regeneration. Neurocan and versican, however, were located at the lesion epicentre, associated with Schwann cell myelin on regenerating peripheral nerve fibres, a distribution that was unlikely to contribute to failed CNS axon regeneration. The present data points to the importance of such correlative investigations for demonstrating the clinical relevance of experimental data. BioMed Central 2009-07-15 /pmc/articles/PMC2725028/ /pubmed/19604403 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2377-9-32 Text en Copyright © 2009 Buss et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Buss, Armin
Pech, Katrin
Kakulas, Byron A
Martin, Didier
Schoenen, Jean
Noth, Johannes
Brook, Gary A
NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
title NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
title_full NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
title_fullStr NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
title_full_unstemmed NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
title_short NG2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
title_sort ng2 and phosphacan are present in the astroglial scar after human traumatic spinal cord injury
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2725028/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19604403
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2377-9-32
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