The role of autophagy in spinal cord injury.
Previous studies have indicated that autophagy has an important function, not only in many neurodegenerative diseases, but also in traumatic and ischemic brain injury. However, no study has previously shown the contribution of autophagy to neural tissue damage after spinal cord injury. We recently investigated the alterations in Beclin 1 expression and the involvement of autophagy and autophagic cell death after spinal cord injury using a spinal cord hemisection model in mice. The results showed that the expression of Beclin 1 dramatically increased in the damaged neural tissue and induced autophagic cell death after a spinal cord injury. These observations suggested that the increased expression of Beclin 1 activates autophagy, while mediating a novel cell death mechanism at the lesion site in response to spinal cord injury. Here we discuss several unsolved issues and review the evidence in related articles regarding the role of autophagy and its contribution to the mechanism of cell death in spinal cord injury.
Kanno
Haruo
H
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan. kanno-h@isis.ocn.ne.jp
Ozawa
Hiroshi
H
Sekiguchi
Akira
A
Itoi
Eiji
E
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001343:Autophagy; D000071186:Beclin-1; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015854:Up-Regulation
D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D000071186:Beclin-1; C115010:Becn1 protein, mouse; D011506:Proteins