title: Guanosine promotes myelination and functional recovery in chronic spinal injury.
abstract: Functional loss after spinal cord injury (SCI) is caused, in part, by demyelination of axons surviving the trauma. Administration of guanosine (8 mg/kg/day, i.p.) for 7 consecutive days, starting 5 weeks after moderate SCI in rats, improved locomotor function and spinal cord remyelination. Myelinogenesis was associated with an increase in the number of mature oligodendrocytes detected in guanosine-treated spinal cord sections in comparison with controls. These data indicate that guanosine-induced remyelination resulted, at least in part, from activation of endogenous oligodendrocyte lineage cells. These findings may have significant implications for chronic demyelinating diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, McMaster University Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON, Canada. jiangs@univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Shucui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Mohammad I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buttigieg
authors.forename: Eva S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Werstiuk
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ciccarelli
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caciagli
authors.forename: Michel P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rathbone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006151:Guanosine / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004676:Myelin Basic Protein; D006151:Guanosine