title: Neurons of the rat cervical spinal cord express vimentin and neurofilament after intraparenchymal injection of kainic acid.
abstract: Intermediate filaments (IF) can be altered under disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases. Kainic acid (KA) induce behavioral changes and histopathological alterations of the spinal cord of injected rats. Our goal was to evaluate the IF expression in neurons during this injury model. Animals were injected with KA at the C5 segment of the cervical spinal cord and euthanized at 1, 3 and 7 post injection (pi) days. Neuronal cell counting showed a significant loss of neurons at the injection site when compared with those of sham and non-operated animals. Immunohistochemistry for vimentin and neurofilament showed positive labeling of perikarya in sham and KA-injected animals since day 1 pi that lasted for the remaining experimental days. Colocalization analysis between enolase and vimentin or neurofilament confirmed a high index of colocalization in both experimental groups at day 1 pi. This index decreased in sham animals by day 3 pi whereas that of KA-injected animals remained high throughout the experiment. These results may suggest that perikarya initiate an unconventional IF expression, which may respond to the neuronal damage induced by the mechanical injury and the excitotoxic effect of KA. It seems that vimentin and neurofilament expression may be a necessary change to promote recovery of the damaged tissue.
authors.affiliation: Image Analysis Laboratory, School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: fnishida@fcv.unlp.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Fabián
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.affiliation: Image Analysis Laboratory, School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Research Fellowship, National Agency for Science and Technology Promotion, Ministry of Science and Technology, Argentina.
authors.forename: María S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Sisti
authors.affiliation: Image Analysis Laboratory, School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Argentina.
authors.forename: Carolina N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Zanuzzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Argentina.
authors.forename: Claudio G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Barbeito
authors.affiliation: Image Analysis Laboratory, School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Argentina.
authors.forename: Enrique L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Portiansky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D014746:Vimentin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D007608:Kainic Acid; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors; D014746:Vimentin
keywords: Colocalization; Intermediate filaments; Kainic acid; Neurofilament; Spinal cord; Vimentin