Does diabetes target corticospinal tract neurons?

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K16373
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Health Science University
• Principal Investigator: Muramatsu Ken 健康科学大学, 健康科学部, 准教授 (00531485)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 糖尿病 / 皮質脊髄路 / 運動野

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated effect on central motor system in a rat model of type 1 diabetes. We used intracortical microstimulation to evaluate motor representations in the motor cortex, recorded antidromic motor cortex responses to spinal cord stimulation to evaluate the function of corticospinal tract (CST) axons, and used retrograde labeling to evaluate morphological alterations of CST neurons. The diabetic rats exhibited severe size reductions in the trunk and hindlimb area. Additionally, we observed reduced antidromic responses in CST neurons with axons projecting to lumbar spinal segments (CST-L). This was consistent with the observation that retrograde-labeled CST-L neurons were decreased in number following tracer injection into the spinal cord in diabetic animals. These results show that diabetes disrupts the corticospinal tract controlling hindlimb and trunk movement.

Free Research Field

神経科学