MATILDE PINCHI PINCHI PLUS

The acute/intermediate phase when the formation of glial scar is not yet complete is an appropriate window to efficiently promote the regeneration process ( Tran et al., 2018). When therapeutic strategies are applied at later stages, they are generally ineffective. The glial scar that forms at the site of the lesion produced by reactive astrocytes delimiting the area becomes a temporal obstacle for axon regeneration. Immediately after a SCI event, timely surgical intervention is critical to stabilise the lesion.

MATILDE PINCHI PINCHI PLUS

Increasing the miR-7b-3p levels in case of SCI could reactivate in adult neurons silenced developmental programmes, supporting at the same time the survival of the axotomised neurons.Īround 6 million people worldwide live with a significant disability caused by traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), which is associated with devastating social impact plus huge economic cost ( Singh et al., 2014). Overall, these data suggest a dual role of miR-7b-3p: (i) the induction of a more plastic neuronal condition/phase, possibly at the expense of the axon growth, (ii) the neuroprotective role exerted through the inhibition of the apoptotic cascade. On the contrary, the overexpression of miR-7b-3p upon in vitro oxidative stress condition (mimicking the SCI environment) significantly reduced the expression level of Wipf2, as observed in vivo, confirming it as a direct miR-7b-3p target. We also analysed miR-7b-3p function during cortical neuron development in vitro: we observed that the overexpression of miR-7b-3p was important (1) to maintain neurons in a more immature and, likely, plastic neuronal developmental phase and (2) to contrast the apoptotic pathway however, in normal conditions it did not affect the Wipf2 expression. Moreover, 16 genes, involved in neural regeneration and potential miR-7b-3p targets, were found to be downregulated in the cortex following SCI. We identified miR-7b-3p as a candidate target given its significant upregulation after SCI in vivo and we screened by miRWalk PTM the genes predicted to be targets of miR-7b-3p (among which we identified Wipf2, a gene regulating neurite extension). Here we profiled a class of sRNA known as microRNAs (miRNAs) following SCI in the cortex where the cell bodies of corticospinal motor neurons are located.

Small RNAs (sRNAs) 19–33 nucleotides in length are a set of non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression and have emerged as key players in regulating cellular events occurring after SCI. Despite research advances, the inherent poor regeneration potential of the central nervous system remains a major hurdle. Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects 6 million people worldwide with no available treatment.

Matilde pinchi pinchi