Enteric glia mediate neuronal outgrowth through release of neurotrophic factors.

Neural Regen Res

Department of Surgery (Neurosurgery, Neuroscience and Neurobiology), McMaster University, Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada ; Hamilton NeuroRestorative Group (NRG), McMaster University, Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.

Published: October 2012

Previous studies have shown that transplanted enteric glia enhance axonal regeneration, reduce tissue damage, and promote functional recovery following spinal cord injury. However, the mechanisms by which enteric glia mediate these beneficial effects are unknown. Neurotrophic factors can promote neuronal differentiation, survival and neurite extension. We hypothesized that enteric glia may exert their protective effects against spinal cord injury partially through the secretion of neurotrophic factors. In the present study, we demonstrated that primary enteric glia cells release nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor over time with their concentrations reaching approximately 250, 100 and 50 pg/mL of culture medium respectively after 48 hours. The biological relevance of this secretion was assessed by incubating dissociated dorsal root ganglion neuronal cultures in enteric glia-conditioned medium with and/or without neutralizing antibodies to each of these proteins and evaluating the differences in neurite growth. We discovered that conditioned medium enhances neurite outgrowth in dorsal root ganglion neurons. Even though there was no detectable amount of neurotrophin-3 secretion using ELISA analysis, the neurite outgrowth effect can be attenuated by the antibody-mediated neutralization of each of the aforementioned neurotrophic factors. Therefore, enteric glia secrete nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 into their surrounding environment in concentrations that can cause a biological effect.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268714PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.028.001DOI Listing

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