Downregulation of Nck1 After Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Rats

BACKGROUND: Nck1 is an important molecule that participates in many cellular processes, including neurite outgrowth, synaptic plasticity, and apoptosis. However, the expression and function of Nck1 in the spinal cord and spinal cord injury remain unknown. AIMS: To investigate the role of Nck1 in spinal cord injury. STUDY DESIGN: Animal experimentation. METHODS: Adult Sprague–Dawley rats were used to establish an acute spinal cord injury model. Double immunofluorescence staining, Western blot, and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis were used to investigate the distribution, cellular localization, and expression of Nck1 in spinal cord injury processes. Short interfering RNA was used to silence Nck1 expression in VSC4.1 cells. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used for the normality distribution analysis; the Student’s unpaired t-test, 1-way analysis of variance followed by post hoc Tukey’s test were used for data analysis. Finally, RNA sequencing technology and gene ontology analysis were used to analyze the changes in Nck1-associated genes expression after spinal cord injury. RESULTS: Colabeled staining demonstrated that Nck1 was especially distributed in neurons. Western blot, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and statistical analysis revealed that Nck1 expression reduced to the lowest levels at 1 day after nerve injury, and slowly increased to a stable level in 21 days (P < .05). Nck1-specific short interfering RNA transfection significantly reduced cell viability and neurite development in neurons. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that Nck1 participates in multiple pathological processes of spinal cord injury, and many Nck1-associated genes exhibited differential expression levels. CONCLUSION: Nck1 is a vital protein in spinal cord injury processes and, therefore, further studies should be conducted to explore its potential functions and molecular mechanisms in spinal cord injury repair.