TY - JOUR
T1 - Acute changes in the axonal cystoskeleton after mild stretching of the rat brachial plexus
AU - Kikukawa, Kenshi
AU - Fukunaga, Kohji
AU - Kato, Teiji
AU - Yamaga, Makio
AU - Miyamoto, Eishichi
AU - Takagi, Katsumasa
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - We have developed an animal model to investigate acute changes in the axonal cytoskeleton caused by a mild stretching of the peripheral nerve in the upper limbs of rats. Rat forelimbs were continuously stretched at 2 N for 1 h. Thereafter, a part of the brachial plexus and median nerve were harvested and processed for electron microscopic analysis. The total number of microtubules in the brachial plexus decreased to 55% of that of the control animals (p < 0.05) without change in the number of neurofilaments. No significant changes in microtubules or neurofilaments were observed in the median nerve. By Western blotting analysis, the amount of tau protein in the stretch group significantly decreased in the brachial plexus but not in the median nerve. However, no significant changes in the amount of tubulin protein were observed in either the brachial plexus or median nerve. These results suggest that the microtubules were depolymerized by stretching of the brachial plexus and that the depolymerization may have been mediated by the decrease in the tau protein.
AB - We have developed an animal model to investigate acute changes in the axonal cytoskeleton caused by a mild stretching of the peripheral nerve in the upper limbs of rats. Rat forelimbs were continuously stretched at 2 N for 1 h. Thereafter, a part of the brachial plexus and median nerve were harvested and processed for electron microscopic analysis. The total number of microtubules in the brachial plexus decreased to 55% of that of the control animals (p < 0.05) without change in the number of neurofilaments. No significant changes in microtubules or neurofilaments were observed in the median nerve. By Western blotting analysis, the amount of tau protein in the stretch group significantly decreased in the brachial plexus but not in the median nerve. However, no significant changes in the amount of tubulin protein were observed in either the brachial plexus or median nerve. These results suggest that the microtubules were depolymerized by stretching of the brachial plexus and that the depolymerization may have been mediated by the decrease in the tau protein.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0736-0266(02)00146-8
DO - 10.1016/S0736-0266(02)00146-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 12568970
AN - SCOPUS:0037224583
VL - 21
SP - 359
EP - 364
JO - Journal of Orthopaedic Research
JF - Journal of Orthopaedic Research
SN - 0736-0266
IS - 2
ER -