TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term changes in expressions of spinal glutamate transporters after spinal cord injury
AU - Kim, Youngkyung
AU - Park, Young Keun
AU - Cho, Hwi Young
AU - Kim, Junesun
AU - Yoon, Young Wook
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) 2009-0077582 .
PY - 2011/5/10
Y1 - 2011/5/10
N2 - Glutamate is a major excitatory transmitter in the central nervous system that may produce cellular injury when its concentration is abnormally increased in the synaptic cleft. Glial glutamate transporters GLAST and GLT-1, which are responsible for clearing synaptic glutamate into glial cells, play an important role in the regulation of the glutamate concentration in the synaptic cleft. However, there has been no report on long-term changes in the levels of glutamate transporters following spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury (SCI) was induced at T12 by a New York University (NYU) impactor. Segments of the spinal cord at T9-10, L1-2, L4-5 and at the epicenter were removed after SCI, and Western blots for GLAST, GLT-1 and EAAC1 were performed. GLAST and GLT-1 were significantly decreased in the epicenter from 1 day up to 8 weeks after SCI. GLT-1 was significantly decreased in the spinal segments rostral to the injury site, and GLAST expression was significantly increased in the L4-5 region of the spinal cord for 8 weeks. Because strategies to modulate the regulation of glutamate transporters may be applied, the present data serve as a reference for further research, although the long-term roles of glutamate transporters in pathological processes caused by SCI are not clear.
AB - Glutamate is a major excitatory transmitter in the central nervous system that may produce cellular injury when its concentration is abnormally increased in the synaptic cleft. Glial glutamate transporters GLAST and GLT-1, which are responsible for clearing synaptic glutamate into glial cells, play an important role in the regulation of the glutamate concentration in the synaptic cleft. However, there has been no report on long-term changes in the levels of glutamate transporters following spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury (SCI) was induced at T12 by a New York University (NYU) impactor. Segments of the spinal cord at T9-10, L1-2, L4-5 and at the epicenter were removed after SCI, and Western blots for GLAST, GLT-1 and EAAC1 were performed. GLAST and GLT-1 were significantly decreased in the epicenter from 1 day up to 8 weeks after SCI. GLT-1 was significantly decreased in the spinal segments rostral to the injury site, and GLAST expression was significantly increased in the L4-5 region of the spinal cord for 8 weeks. Because strategies to modulate the regulation of glutamate transporters may be applied, the present data serve as a reference for further research, although the long-term roles of glutamate transporters in pathological processes caused by SCI are not clear.
KW - Glutamate
KW - Glutamate transporter
KW - Spinal cord injury
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U2 - 10.1016/j.brainres.2011.03.037
DO - 10.1016/j.brainres.2011.03.037
M3 - Article
C2 - 21439271
AN - SCOPUS:79955477147
VL - 1389
SP - 194
EP - 199
JO - Brain Research
JF - Brain Research
SN - 0006-8993
ER -