title: Hypoxia-induced expression of VEGF in the organotypic spinal cord slice culture.
abstract: We used the erythropoietin enhancer and Simian virus-40 promoter to create a hypoxia-inducible gene expression system to investigate the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene therapy on neuroprotection and neurogenesis in organotypic spinal cord slice culture. The organotypic spinal cord slice culture transfected with pEpo-SV-VEGF expressed the highest amount of VEGF under hypoxic conditions and showed decreased apoptosis and increased proliferation, and evidence of neurogenesis. Our results show that the hypoxia-induced VEGF expression in an organotypic spinal cord slice culture may lead to an optimal treatment for spinal cord injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Spine and Spinal Cord Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Su
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Pennant
authors.forename: Yoon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Jin Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Hyo Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: So-Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gwak
authors.forename: Do Heum
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Keung Nyun
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015870:Gene Expression; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A