title: Stimulation of autophagy promotes functional recovery in diabetic rats with spinal cord injury.
abstract: In this study we examined the relationship between autophagy and apoptosis in diabetic rats after spinal cord injury (SCI), also we determined the role of autophagy in diabetes-aggravated neurological injury in vivo and in vitro. Our results showed that diabetes decreased the survival of neurons, promoted astrocytes proliferation, increased inflammatory cells infiltration and inhibited functional recovery after SCI. Diabetes was shown to confer increased activation of apoptotic pathways, along with an increase in autophagy; similar effects were also observed in vitro in neuronal PC12 cells. Treatment with rapamycin, an autophagy activator, partially abolished the adverse effect of diabetes, suggesting that diabetes may enhance neurological damage and suppress locomotor recovery after SCI, in addition to its effects on apoptosis and autophagy. In contrast, further stimulation of autophagy improved neurological function via inhibition of apoptosis. These results explained how diabetes exacerbates SCI in cellular level and suggested autophagy stimulation to be a new therapeutic strategy for diabetic SCI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Kai-liang
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Yi-fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Nai-feng
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Yao-sen
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Yong-li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: De-heng
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiang-yang
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Hua-zi
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Orthopaedics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-lei
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000502:physiology; D001343:Autophagy; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D008124:Locomotion; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D016716:PC12 Cells; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000494:pharmacology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D020123:Sirolimus