Sarah E Mondello, Lisa Young, Viet Dang, Amanda E Fischedick, Nicholas M Tolley, Tian Wang, Madison A Bravo, Dalton Lee, Belinda Tucker, Megan Knoernschild, Benjamin D Pedigo, Philip J Horner, Chet Moritz
{"title":"Optogenetic spinal stimulation promotes new axonal growth and skilled forelimb recovery in rats with sub-chronic cervical spinal cord injury.","authors":"Sarah E Mondello, Lisa Young, Viet Dang, Amanda E Fischedick, Nicholas M Tolley, Tian Wang, Madison A Bravo, Dalton Lee, Belinda Tucker, Megan Knoernschild, Benjamin D Pedigo, Philip J Horner, Chet Moritz","doi":"10.1088/1741-2552/acec13","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Objective.</i>Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to debilitating sensorimotor deficits that greatly limit quality of life. This work aims to develop a mechanistic understanding of how to best promote functional recovery following SCI. Electrical spinal stimulation is one promising approach that is effective in both animal models and humans with SCI. Optogenetic stimulation is an alternative method of stimulating the spinal cord that allows for cell-type-specific stimulation. The present work investigates the effects of preferentially stimulating neurons within the spinal cord and not glial cells, termed 'neuron-specific' optogenetic spinal stimulation. We examined forelimb recovery, axonal growth, and vasculature after optogenetic or sham stimulation in rats with cervical SCI.<i>Approach.</i>Adult female rats received a moderate cervical hemicontusion followed by the injection of a neuron-specific optogenetic viral vector ipsilateral and caudal to the lesion site. Animals then began rehabilitation on the skilled forelimb reaching task. At four weeks post-injury, rats received a micro-light emitting diode (µLED) implant to optogenetically stimulate the caudal spinal cord. Stimulation began at six weeks post-injury and occurred in conjunction with activities to promote use of the forelimbs. Following six weeks of stimulation, rats were perfused, and tissue stained for GAP-43, laminin, Nissl bodies and myelin. Location of viral transduction and transduced cell types were also assessed.<i>Main Results.</i>Our results demonstrate that neuron-specific optogenetic spinal stimulation significantly enhances recovery of skilled forelimb reaching. We also found significantly more GAP-43 and laminin labeling in the optogenetically stimulated groups indicating stimulation promotes axonal growth and angiogenesis.<i>Significance.</i>These findings indicate that optogenetic stimulation is a robust neuromodulator that could enable future therapies and investigations into the role of specific cell types, pathways, and neuronal populations in supporting recovery after SCI.</p>","PeriodicalId":16753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neural engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10496592/pdf/","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of neural engineering","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/acec13","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Objective.Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to debilitating sensorimotor deficits that greatly limit quality of life. This work aims to develop a mechanistic understanding of how to best promote functional recovery following SCI. Electrical spinal stimulation is one promising approach that is effective in both animal models and humans with SCI. Optogenetic stimulation is an alternative method of stimulating the spinal cord that allows for cell-type-specific stimulation. The present work investigates the effects of preferentially stimulating neurons within the spinal cord and not glial cells, termed 'neuron-specific' optogenetic spinal stimulation. We examined forelimb recovery, axonal growth, and vasculature after optogenetic or sham stimulation in rats with cervical SCI.Approach.Adult female rats received a moderate cervical hemicontusion followed by the injection of a neuron-specific optogenetic viral vector ipsilateral and caudal to the lesion site. Animals then began rehabilitation on the skilled forelimb reaching task. At four weeks post-injury, rats received a micro-light emitting diode (µLED) implant to optogenetically stimulate the caudal spinal cord. Stimulation began at six weeks post-injury and occurred in conjunction with activities to promote use of the forelimbs. Following six weeks of stimulation, rats were perfused, and tissue stained for GAP-43, laminin, Nissl bodies and myelin. Location of viral transduction and transduced cell types were also assessed.Main Results.Our results demonstrate that neuron-specific optogenetic spinal stimulation significantly enhances recovery of skilled forelimb reaching. We also found significantly more GAP-43 and laminin labeling in the optogenetically stimulated groups indicating stimulation promotes axonal growth and angiogenesis.Significance.These findings indicate that optogenetic stimulation is a robust neuromodulator that could enable future therapies and investigations into the role of specific cell types, pathways, and neuronal populations in supporting recovery after SCI.
期刊介绍:
The goal of Journal of Neural Engineering (JNE) is to act as a forum for the interdisciplinary field of neural engineering where neuroscientists, neurobiologists and engineers can publish their work in one periodical that bridges the gap between neuroscience and engineering. The journal publishes articles in the field of neural engineering at the molecular, cellular and systems levels.
The scope of the journal encompasses experimental, computational, theoretical, clinical and applied aspects of: Innovative neurotechnology; Brain-machine (computer) interface; Neural interfacing; Bioelectronic medicines; Neuromodulation; Neural prostheses; Neural control; Neuro-rehabilitation; Neurorobotics; Optical neural engineering; Neural circuits: artificial & biological; Neuromorphic engineering; Neural tissue regeneration; Neural signal processing; Theoretical and computational neuroscience; Systems neuroscience; Translational neuroscience; Neuroimaging.