Project description:After nerve injury, myelin and Remak Schwann cells reprogram to repair cells specialized for regeneration. Normally providing strong regenerative support, these cells fail in aging animals, and during the chronic denervation that results from slow axon growth. This impairs axonal regeneration and causes a significant clinical problem. We find that aging and chronically denervated repair cells express reduced c-Jun protein and the regenerative support provided by these cells is also reduced. In both cases, genetically restoring Schwann cell c-Jun levels restores regeneration to that in controls. We identify potential gene candidates mediating this effect and implicate Shh in the control of Schwann cell c-Jun levels. These experiments reveal that a common mechanism, reduced c-Jun in repair cells, underlies two major reasons for regeneration failure in the PNS. They underscore the central importance of Schwann cell c-Jun as a regulator of nerve repair, and point to molecular pathways that can be manipulated for improving the clinical outcome of nerve injuries.
Project description:Satellite cells are resident skeletal muscle stem cells responsible for muscle maintenance and repair. In resting muscle, satellite cells are maintained in a quiescent state. Satellite cell activation induces the myogenic commitment factor, MyoD, and cell cycle entry to facilitate transition to a population of proliferating myoblasts that eventually exit the cycle and regenerate muscle tissue. The molecular mechanism involved in the transition of a quiescent satellite cell to a transit-amplifying myoblast is poorly understood. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression of in vivo satellite cell activation through muscle injury and identified RNA post-transcriptional regulation as a key component of satellite cell activation. Wild type or Sdc4-/- satellite cells were FACS isolated from resting muscle or from muscle 12h and 48h following barium chloride-induced muscle injury. 5000 cell equivalents of RNA was labeled and hybridized to MOE430v2 GeneChips (Affymetrix) and scanned as per manufacturers protocol. Probeset intensities were GCRMA normalized for further analysis including UPGMA hierarchical clustering, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and fold change.
Project description:Three male 8-week-old Wistar rats were used. The peroneal nerve of the animals was transected and sutured to the biceps femoris muscle. Four weeks later, the proximal stump was sutured to the distal stump. The animals survived for 8 weeks. All experiments were performed under Ketanest (ketamine hydrochloride, Essex Pharma GmbH, Munich, Germany; 100 mg/kg) and Rompun (xylazine hydrochloride, Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany; 10 mg/kg) anesthesia. Both substances were injected intraperitoneally. RNA was extracted from the ipsilateral and contralateral tibialis anterior muscles of each animal. The gene array analysis compared the ipsilateral muscle with the contralateral muscle of each animal.
Project description:Tibialis anterior muscle was damaged by cardiotoxin injection and macrophage subsets were isolated and analyzed by gene expression analysis. We used microarray to obtain global gene expression data of muscle-derived tissue macrophage subsets. Tissue macrophages were collected from regenerating muscle samples, Gr1+/Cx3cr1low and Gr1-/Cx3cr1high macrophage subsets were sorted. The global gene expression patterns of distinct macrophage subsets were analyzed on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:Muscle injury was elicited by cardiotoxin injection into the tibialis anterior muscle. Macrophages were isolated 2 days post-injury from the regenerating muscle. We used microarray to obtain global gene expression data of muscle-derived tissue macrophage subsets. Tissue macrophages were collected from regenerating muscle samples of three animals, Ly6C+ F4/80low and Ly6C- F4/80high macrophage subsets were sorted. The global gene expression patterns of distinct macrophage subsets were analyzed on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:Muscle injury was elicited by cardiotoxin injection into the tibialis anterior muscle. Macrophages were isolated 2 days post-injury from the regenerating muscle. We used microarray to obtain global gene expression data of muscle-derived tissue macrophage subsets. Tissue macrophages were collected from regenerating muscle samples of three animals, Ly6C+ F4/80low and Ly6C- F4/80high macrophage subsets were sorted. The global gene expression patterns of distinct macrophage subsets were analyzed on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:The striking PNS regenerative response to injury rests on the plasticity of adult Schwann cells and their ability to transit between differentiation states, a highly unusual feature in mammals. Using mice with inactivation of Schwann cell c-Jun, we show that the injury response involves c-Jun dependent natural reprograming of differentiated cells to generate a distinct Schwann cell state specialized to promote regeneration. Transected distal stumps of c-Jun mutants show 172 disregulated genes, resulting in abnormal expression of growth factors, adhesion molecules and cytoskeletal changes that lead to neuronal death, inhibition of axon growth and striking failures of functional repair after injury. These observations provide a molecular basis for understanding Schwann cell plasticity and nerve regeneration. They offer conclusive support for the notion that Schwann cells control repair in the PNS, using dedicated transcriptional controls to generate a distinct repair cell, a transition that shows similarities to transdifferentiation seen in other systems. Total RNA was purified from a 10mm segment of the distal stump and uninjured contralateral nerve from c-Jun mutants and control mice 7 days after nerve cut. For each condition (injured/uninjured) and genotype (control/ knock-out) 2 independent samples (replicates) were generated from pooled nerves of 4/6 mice resulting in a total of 8 samples: CTRL.cut.R1, CTRL.cut.R2, CTRL.uncut.R1, CTRL.uncut.R2, KO.cut.R1, KO.cut.R2, KO.uncut.R1,KO.uncut.R2.
Project description:We report age-related gene expression of Treg cells isolated from injured muscle and spleen. Male C57BL/6 Foxp3-GFP reporter mice were injured intramuscularly with cardiotoxin. Tregs were sorted directly into Trizol from injured muscle and spleen 4 days post-injury. Gene expression profiling of muscle and splenic Tregs from 2- vs >6-month old mice (biological duplicate for each).
Project description:Remyelination is a key step in functional nerve regeneration performed by Schwann cells (SC). We have demonstrated that matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 is a major regulator of signal transduction and phenotypic switching in SCs. Herein, genome-wide transcriptional profiling, followed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis revealed the MMP-9 signaling network and its endogenous inhibitor, TIMP-1, among the top induced genes of the injured sciatic nerve, that co-distributed with MMP-9 in myelinating SCs and the paranodal/nodal areas of myelinated fibers. Homo- and heterodimers of the active and proMMP-9 were purified from injured nerves using gelatin-sepharose. MMP-9 gene deletion increased the number of immature, GFAP+ mSC and post-mitotic cell counts that correlate with shorter myelin internodes in remyelinated fibers lacking MMP-9. MMP-9 is essential to nodal clustering of voltage-gated Na+ (Nav) channels. MMP inhibitor therapy diminished the expression of Nav 1.7 and 1.8. These data established the essential role of MMP-9 in guiding SC differentiation toward myelin production and in molecular assembly of the myelin domains. Modification of Nav channels in myelinated fibers may thus provide an important therapeutic approach for a number of facilitates regeneration and attenuated neuropathic pain. Gene expression profiling of total RNAs extracted from murine sciatic nerves, dorsal root ganglion and spinal cords at day 1 and day 5 post injury.
Project description:Six different mouse pain models were studied: (1) tumour-injection model for bone cancer pain; (2) partial sciatic nerve ligation (PSL) for neuropathic pain; (3) mechanical joint loading for osteoarthritis pain; (4) oxaliplatin-induced painful neuropathy for chemotherapy-induced pain; (5) hyperalgesic priming model for chronic muscle pain; and (6) complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA)-injection for inflammatory pain. Transcriptomic microarray analyses were performed using RNA isolated from dorsal root ganglia.