Transcriptome of rat subcortical white matter and spinal cord after spinal injury and cortical stimulation

Scientific Data, 2021 · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00953-4 · Published: May 18, 2021

Spinal Cord Injury Neurology Bioinformatics

Simple Explanation

Spinal cord injury disrupts ascending and descending neural signals causing sensory and motor dysfunction. Neuromodulation with electrical stimulation is used in both clinical and research settings to induce neural plasticity and improve functional recovery following spinal trauma. The researchers examined the effects of cortical electrical stimulation following injury on transcription at several levels of the central nervous system, using a rat model with a unilateral, incomplete cervical spinal contusion injury. RNA was purified from bilateral subcortical white matter and 3 levels of the spinal cord to analyze transcriptional changes in response to the stimulation.

Study Duration

1 week stimulation

Participants

4 adult female Long-Evans rats

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
The study provides a complete dataset of transcriptional changes in the central nervous system of rats with incomplete spinal cord injury following cortical electrical stimulation.
2
Gene expression patterns in Regions 1 and 2 were distinct from the other 3 regions.
3
Compared with unstimulated animals, Lgals3, Cd44 and Gpnmb in region 1 (Fig. 4a) and Trpv1 in region 5 (Fig. 4b) were more highly expressed after stimulation.

Research Summary

This study examined the effects of cortical electrical stimulation following spinal cord injury (SCI) on the transcriptional profile of the central nervous system (CNS) in rats. Adult female rats were given a unilateral, incomplete cervical injury and the contralesional motor cortex was stimulated electrically through an implanted electrode array for one week. The raw RNA-seq data were deposited in NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) with accession number GSE155610.

Practical Implications

Resource for SCI Research

The dataset can be used by researchers to identify gene targets for new treatments for SCI.

Understanding Stimulation Effects

The study provides insights into the transcriptional mechanisms underlying stimulation-induced recovery after SCI.

Future Research Directions

Future studies should investigate how transcriptional changes relate to morphological, synaptic, and behavioral effects produced by different patterns of electrical stimulation.

Study Limitations

1
Small sample size prevents drawing strong conclusions.
2
The present study only used one frequency of stimulation, although different frequencies and patterns of stimulation have unique effects on functional outcomes following SCI4 and transcription of in vitro neural cultures7.
3
Personnel were not blinded to stimulation condition, as they did not make any assessments that could be biased by a knowledge of treatment condition.

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