Abstract
The neuropeptide galanin and its receptors (GalR) are found to be up-regulated in brains suffering from nerve injury, but the specific role played by galanin remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the neuroprotective role of galanin after shear stress induced nerve injury in the primary cultured cortical neurons of rats. Our results demonstrated that no significant changes in cell death and viability were found after galanin treatment when subjected to a shear stress of 5 dyn/cm2 for 12 h, after increasing magnitude of shear stress to 10 dyn/cm2 for 12 h, cell death was significantly increased, while galanin can inhibit the nerve injury induced by shear stress with 10 dyn/cm2 for 12 h. Moreover, Gal2-11 (an agonist of GalR2/3) could also effectively inhibit shear stress-induced nerve injury of primary cultured cortical neurons in rats. Although GalR2 is involved in the galanin protection mechanism, there was no GalR3 expression in this system. Moreover, galanin increased the excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs), which can effectively inhibit the physiological effects of shear stress. Galanin was also found to inhibit the activation of p53 and Bax, and further reversed the down regulation of Bcl-2 induced by shear stress. Our results strongly demonstrated that galanin plays a neuroprotective role in injured cortical neurons of rats.
Highlights
Galanin(Gal) is a widely distributed neuropeptide, with 29–30 amino acids, that regulates various endocrine, pain and cognitive functions, including learning and memory in the central nervous system (CNS) [1,2]
In order to confirm the influence of shear stress on the primary cultured cortical neurons, different levels of shear stress were applied for 0 h,1 h, 4 h, 8 h, 12 h, 24 h respectively in this study (Fig. 1A)
There was no significant change at 5 dyn/cm2, while a shear stress of 20 dyn/cm2 significantly decreased cell viability up to 30% (n = 10, p,0.001), and resulted in serious nerve injury
Summary
Galanin(Gal) is a widely distributed neuropeptide, with 29–30 amino acids, that regulates various endocrine, pain and cognitive functions, including learning and memory in the central nervous system (CNS) [1,2]. Galanin is important in some pathological processes, especially in traumatic brain injury [3], whereby it is upregulated in the brain following damage to the central nervous system [1,4]. Galanin is significantly elevated in some neurodegenerative diseases, in Alzheimer’s disease [7]. The specific role of galanin in nerve injury is still not well understood. If galanin can be shown to block nerve damage, it may be useful in the development of a new treatment strategy for nerve injuries
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