title: Cervical spinal cord injury upregulates ventral spinal 5-HT2A receptors.
abstract: Following chronic C2 spinal hemisection (C2HS), crossed spinal pathways to phrenic motoneurons exhibit a slow, spontaneous increase in efficacy by a serotonin (5-HT)-dependent mechanism associated with 5-HT2A receptor activation. Further, the spontaneous appearance of cross-phrenic activity following C2HS is accelerated and enhanced by exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). We hypothesized that chronic C2HS would increase 5-HT and 5-HT2A receptor expression in ventral cervical spinal segments containing phrenic motoneurons. In addition, we hypothesized that CIH exposure would further increase 5-HT and 5-HT2A receptor density in this region. Control, sham-operated, and C2HS Sprague-Dawley rats were studied following normoxia or CIH (11% O2-air; 5-min intervals; nights 7-14 post-surgery). At 2 weeks post-surgery, ventral spinal gray matter extending from C4 and C5 was isolated ipsilateral and contralateral to C2HS. Neither C2HS nor CIH altered 5-HT concentration measured with an ELISA on either side of the spinal cord. However, 5-HT2A receptor expression assessed with immunoblots increased in ipsilateral gray matter following C2HS, an effect independent of CIH. Immunocytochemistry revealed increased 5-HT2A receptor expression on identified phrenic motoneurons (p<0.05), as well as in the surrounding gray matter. Contralateral to injury, 5-HT2A receptor expression was elevated in CIH, but not normoxic C2HS rats (p<0.05). Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that spontaneous increase in 5-HT2A receptor expression on or near phrenic motoneurons contributes to strengthened crossed-spinal synaptic pathways to phrenic motoneurons following C2HS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. dfuller@phhp.ufl.edu
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.forename: Tracy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Baker-Herman
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Golder
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Doperalski
authors.forename: Jyoti J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Watters
authors.forename: Gordon S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010791:Phrenic Nerve / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D044402:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2A / Q000378:metabolism*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D044402:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2A; D012701:Serotonin