title: Reshaping the chromatin landscape after spinal cord injury.
abstract: The pathophysiology underlying spinal cord injury is complex. Mechanistic understanding of the adaptive responses to injury is critical for targeted therapy aimed at reestablishing lost connections between proximal and distal neurons. After injury, cell-type specific gene transcription programs govern distinct cellular behaviors, and chromatin regulators play a central role in shaping the chromatin landscape to adjust transcriptional profiles in a context-dependent manner. In this review, we summarize recent progress on the pleiotropic roles of chromatin regulators in mediating the diverse adaptive behaviors of neurons and glial cells after spinal cord injury, and wherever possible, discuss the underlying mechanisms and genomic targets. We specifically draw attention to the perspective that takes into consideration the impact of epigenetic modulation on axon growth potential, together with its effect on wound-healing properties of glial cells. Epigenetic modulation of chromatin state represents an emerging therapeutic direction to promote neural repair and axon regeneration after spinal cord injury.
authors.affiliation: Fishberg Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Fishberg Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA ; Department of Neurosurgery, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zou
keywords: axon regeneration; chromatin; epigenetics; neural repair; spinal cord injury