TY - JOUR PY - 2017// TI - Thrombospondin-1 gene deficiency worsens the neurological outcomes of traumatic brain injury in mice JO - International journal of medical sciences A1 - Cheng, Chongjie A1 - Yu, Zhanyang A1 - Zhao, Song A1 - Liao, Zhengbu A1 - Xing, Changhong A1 - Jiang, Yinghua A1 - Yang, Yong-Guang A1 - Whalen, Michael J. A1 - Lo, Eng H. A1 - Sun, Xiaochuan A1 - Wang, Xiaoying SP - 927 EP - 936 VL - 14 IS - 10 N2 - BACKGROUND: Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) is an extracellular matrix protein that plays multiple physiological and pathophysiological roles in the brain. Experimental reports suggest that TSP-1 may have an adverse role in neuronal function recovery under certain injury conditions. However, the roles of TSP-1 in traumatic brain injury (TBI) have not been elucidated. In this study we for the first time investigated the roles of TSP-1 in a controlled cortical impact (CCI) model of TBI in TSP-1 knockout (TSP-1 KO) and wild type (WT) mice.

METHODS: We examined blood brain-barrier (BBB) damage using at 1 day post-TBI by measuring Evans Blue leakage, and neurological functional recovery at 3 weeks post-TBI by measuring neurological severity score (NSS), wire gripping, corner test and Morris Water Maze (MWM). Mechanistically, we quantified pro-angiogenic biomarkers including cerebral vessel density, vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) and angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) protein expression, synaptic biomarker synaptophysin, and synaptogenesis marker brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein expression in contralateral and ipsilateral (peri-lesion) cortex at 21 days after TBI using immunohistochemistry and Western Blot.

RESULTS: TSP-1 is upregulated at early phase of TBI in WT mice. Compared to WT mice, TSP-1 KO (1) significantly worsened TBI-induced BBB leakage at 1 day after TBI; (2) had similar lesion size as WT mice at 3 weeks after TBI; (3) exhibited a significantly worse neurological deficits in motor and cognitive functions; (4) had no significant difference in cerebral vessel density, but significant increase of VEGF and Ang-1 protein expressions in peri-lesion cortex; (5) significantly increased BDNF but not synaptophysin protein level in peri-lesion cortex compared to sham, but both synaptophysin and BDNF expressions were significantly decreased in contralateral cortex compared to WT.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that TSP-1 may be beneficial for maintaining BBB integrity in the early phase and functional recovery in late phase after TBI. The molecular mechanisms of TSP-1 in early BBB pathophysiology, and long-term neurological function recovery after TBI need to be further investigated.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1449-1907 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.7150/ijms.18812 ID - ref1 ER -