Analysis of regenerative axonal circuit after spinal cord injury and the effectiveness of p38 MAPK inhibitor

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24592200
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Orthopaedic surgery
• Research Institution: Ehime University
• Principal Investigator: MORINO Tadao 愛媛大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (20380248)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OGATA Tadanori 愛媛大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 准教授 (30291503)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: p38 MAPK inhibitor / spinal cord injury / microglia / apoptosis / regeneration / tracer

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We tested the effect of p38 MAPK inhibitor on hindlimb motor function after spinal cord contusion injury in rat and carried out studies on behavior and histological analysis. The damage of hindlimb motor function was reduced with intrathecally administrated p38 MAPK inhibitor from 2 to 6 weeks after injury. The result of present study indicated that the inhibitory mechanisms of spinal cord damage were 1) inhibition of inflammation including microglial proliferation, 2) inhibition of apoptosis on axons and 3) following acceleration of axonal regeneration. We confirmed these results with experiments using neuronal tracer.

Free Research Field

神経生理学