1. Impacts of epidural electrical stimulation on Wnt signaling, FAAH, and BDNF following thoracic spinal cord injury in rat
- Author
-
Meysam Ghorbani, Ali Ahmadalipour, Hamid Soltani-Zangbar, Pouran Karimi, Mohsen Jafarzadehgharehziaaddin, Soheila Bani, Parviz Shahabi, Mohammad Morshedi, and Behnaz Sadeghzadeh-Oskouei
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Physiology ,Clinical Biochemistry ,Stimulation ,Amidohydrolases ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Neurotrophic factors ,GSK-3 ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Wnt Signaling Pathway ,Spinal cord injury ,Spinal Cord Injuries ,beta Catenin ,business.industry ,Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ,Wnt signaling pathway ,Recovery of Function ,Cell Biology ,Thorax ,Nestin ,medicine.disease ,Spinal cord ,Endocannabinoid system ,Electric Stimulation ,Rats ,Disease Models, Animal ,030104 developmental biology ,Endocrinology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Gene Expression Regulation ,Spinal Cord ,nervous system ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,business ,Endocannabinoids - Abstract
Electrical stimulation (ES) has been shown to improve some of impairments after spinal cord injury (SCI), but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The Wnt signaling pathways and the endocannabinoid system appear to be modulated in response to SCI. This study aimed to investigate the effect of ES therapy on the activity of canonical/noncanonical Wnt signaling pathways, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and fatty-acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), which regulate endocannabinoids levels. Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: (a) Sham, (b) laminectomy + epidural subthreshold ES, (c) SCI, and (d) SCI + epidural subthreshold ES. A moderate contusion SCI was performed at the thoracic level (T10). Epidural subthreshold ES was delivered to upper the level of T10 segment every day (1 hr/rat) for 2 weeks. Then, animals were killed and immunoblotting was used to assess spinal cord parameters. Results revealed that ES intervention for 14 days could significantly increase wingless-type3 (Wnt3), Wnt7, β-catenin, Nestin, and cyclin D1 levels, as well as phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β and Jun N-terminal kinase. Additionally, SCI reduced BDNF and FAAH levels, and ES increased BDNF and FAAH levels in the injury site. We propose that ES therapy may improve some of impairments after SCI through Wnt signaling pathways. Outcomes also suggest that BDNF and FAAH are important players in the beneficial impacts of ES therapy. However, the precise mechanism of BDNF, FAAH, and Wnt signaling pathways on SCI requires further investigation.
- Published
- 2020