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. 2018 Jun 30;14(3):489-496.
doi: 10.12965/jer.1836086.043. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Synaptophysin and caspase-3 expression on lumbar segments of spinal cord after sensorimotor restriction during early postnatal period and treadmill training

Felipe Stigger  1 , Silvia Barbosa  2 , Marília Rossato Marques  3 , Ethiane Segabinazi  3 , Otávio Américo Augustin  2 , Matilde Achaval  4 , Simone Marcuzzo  4
Affiliations

Synaptophysin and caspase-3 expression on lumbar segments of spinal cord after sensorimotor restriction during early postnatal period and treadmill training

Felipe Stigger et al. J Exerc Rehabil. .

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether locomotor stimulation training could have beneficial effects on spinal cord plasticity consequent to sensorimotor restriction (SR). Male Wistar rats were exposed to SR from postnatal day 2 (P2) to P28. Control and experimental rats underwent locomotor stimulation training in a treadmill from P31 to P52. The intensity of the synaptophysin and caspase-3 immunoreaction was determined on ventral horn of spinal cord. The synaptophysin immunoreactivity was lower in the ventral horn of sensorimotor restricted rats compared to controls animals and was accompanied by an increased caspase-3 immunoreactivity. Those alterations were reversed at the end of the training period. Our results suggest that immobility affects the normal developmental process that spinal cord undergoes in early postnatal life influencing both pro-apoptotic and synapse markers. Also, we demonstrated that this phenomenon was reversed by 3 weeks of treadmill training.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Developmental disuse; Spinal cord plasticity; Treadmill walking training.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Differential changes in synaptophysin immunoreactivity in the lumbar spinal cord of control (CT), sensorimotor-restricted (SR), trained control (TrCT), and trained sensorimotor-restricted (TrSR) rats. (A) Representative photomicrographs of of synaptophysin in ventral horn in all experimental groups (×20). (B) Two-way analysis of variance followed by Duncan test. Columns represent means±standard error of the mean. *P<0.05, different from CT.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Differential changes in caspase-3 immunoreactivity in the lumbar spinal cord of control (CT), sensorimotor-restricted (SR), trained control (TrCT), and trained sensorimotor-restricted (TrSR) rats. (A) Representative photomicrographs of of caspase-3 in ventral horn in all experimental groups (×20). (B) Two-way analysis of variance followed by Duncan test. Columns represent means±standard error of the mean. *P<0.05, different from CT.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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