title: [Changes in noradrenergic neurons in the rat spinal cord after brain injury].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the impact of experimental brain injury on the noradrenergic (NA) neurons in the spinal cord, in order to explore possible mechanism of the changes in NA neuron expression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy healthy Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: normal group (n=10), brain injury (BI) group (n=60). The animals in BI group were subjected to BI with the modified Feeney's method. The spinal cords of rats were harvested at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the injury, respectively. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to assess the changes in dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IHC showed a small number of DBH-positive neurons distributed in anterior horn of the cervical and lumbar enlargements in control group; a larger number of dark-stained noradrenergic neurons were found in anterior horn, and also in posterior and lateral horns of spinal cord in brain injury group at different time points after injury, as compared with control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). RT-PCR showed that the expression of DBH mRNA in brain injury group was significantly higher than that in control group at different time points after injury (P<0.05 or P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A significant increase of NA neurons in spinal cord of brain injury group suggests that more NA is synthesized by the neurons, which is necessary to meet the demand of the organism under the stress condition, suggesting that NA plays a very important role in the course of brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Wei-hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shan-quan
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ke-jian
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gui-qiong
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004299:Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004299:Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase; D009638:Norepinephrine