Time course of respiratory dysfunction and phrenic motor neuron death following cervical spinal contusion in rats

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Time course of respiratory dysfunction and phrenic motor neuron death following cervical spinal contusion in rats Charles Nicaise1*, Roland Pochet1 and Angelo Lepore2 1 Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratoire d'histologie, de neuroanatomie et de neuropathologie, Belgium 2 Thomas Jefferson University, Department of Neuroscience, United States Respiratory dysfunction is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Injuries targeting mid-cervical (C3-C5) spinal cord regions affect the phrenic nucleus that innervates the diaphragm, the primary respiratory muscle of inspiration. Contusion-type injury in the cervical spinal cord is one of the most common forms of human SCI; however, few studies have evaluated mid-cervical contusion in animal models or characterized consequent histopathological and functional effects of degeneration of phrenic motor neuron–diaphragm circuitry. In an attempt to characterize the time course of phrenic motor neuron death and respiratory dysfunction, we sought to create a unilateral contusion injury in rats and followed the animals for two weeks. Our injury paradigm leads to rapid but transient changes of respiratory parameters such as the breathing frequency, minute volume or inspiratory/expiratory times, measured by whole-body plethysmography. It is accompanied by phrenic motor neuron loss, phrenic nerve degeneration, denervation at the diaphragm neuromuscular junction, changes in spontaneous diaphragm EMG recordings and reduction of phrenic nerve compound muscle action potential amplitude. These findings demonstrate significant and persistent respiratory compromise following mid-cervical SCI. These injury paradigms provide important tools both for understanding mechanisms of phrenic motor neuron and diaphragm pathology following SCI and for evaluating the therapeutic window in clinically relevant cervical SCI models. Keywords: Cervical, Diaphragm, phrenic motor neuron, respiratory function, spinal cord injury Conference: Belgian Brain Council, Liège, Belgium, 27 Oct - 27 Oct, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Higher Brain Functions in health and disease: cognition and memory Citation: Nicaise C, Pochet R and Lepore A (2012). Time course of respiratory dysfunction and phrenic motor neuron death following cervical spinal contusion in rats. Conference Abstract: Belgian Brain Council. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.210.00136 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 28 Apr 2012; Published Online: 12 Sep 2012. * Correspondence: Dr. Charles Nicaise, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratoire d'histologie, de neuroanatomie et de neuropathologie, Bruxelles, 1070, Belgium, charles.nicaise@unamur.be Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Charles Nicaise Roland Pochet Angelo Lepore Google Charles Nicaise Roland Pochet Angelo Lepore Google Scholar Charles Nicaise Roland Pochet Angelo Lepore PubMed Charles Nicaise Roland Pochet Angelo Lepore Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.