Long-term changes in expressions of spinal glutamate transporters after spinal cord injury

Youngkyung Kim, Young Keun Park, Hwi Young Cho, Junesun Kim, Young Wook Yoon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Glutamate is a major excitatory transmitter in the central nervous system that may produce cellular injury when its concentration is abnormally increased in the synaptic cleft. Glial glutamate transporters GLAST and GLT-1, which are responsible for clearing synaptic glutamate into glial cells, play an important role in the regulation of the glutamate concentration in the synaptic cleft. However, there has been no report on long-term changes in the levels of glutamate transporters following spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury (SCI) was induced at T12 by a New York University (NYU) impactor. Segments of the spinal cord at T9-10, L1-2, L4-5 and at the epicenter were removed after SCI, and Western blots for GLAST, GLT-1 and EAAC1 were performed. GLAST and GLT-1 were significantly decreased in the epicenter from 1 day up to 8 weeks after SCI. GLT-1 was significantly decreased in the spinal segments rostral to the injury site, and GLAST expression was significantly increased in the L4-5 region of the spinal cord for 8 weeks. Because strategies to modulate the regulation of glutamate transporters may be applied, the present data serve as a reference for further research, although the long-term roles of glutamate transporters in pathological processes caused by SCI are not clear.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)194-199
Number of pages6
JournalBrain Research
Volume1389
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011 May 10

Keywords

  • Glutamate
  • Glutamate transporter
  • Spinal cord injury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience(all)
  • Molecular Biology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Developmental Biology

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