Orexin-A promotes motor function recovery of rats with spinal cord injury by regulating ionotropic glutamate receptors
HE Guanglü
CHU Wanyu
LI Yan
SHENG Xin
LUO Hao
XU Aiping
BIAN Mingjie
ZHANG Huanhuan
WANG Mengya
ZHENG Chao
Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect of orexin-A-mediated regulation of ionotropic glutamate receptors for promoting motor function recovery in rats with spinal cord injury(SCI).Methods Thirty-six newborn SD rats(aged 7-14 days)were randomized into 6 groups(n=6),including a normal control group,a sham-operated group,and 4 SCI groups with daily intrathecal injection of saline,DNQX,orexin-A,or orexin-A+DNQX for 3 consecutive days after PCI.Motor function of the rats were evaluated using blood-brain barrier(BBB)score and inclined plane test 1 day before and at 1,3,and 7 days after SCI.For patch-clamp experiment,spinal cord slices from newborn rats in the control,sham-operated,SCI,and SCI+orexin groups were prepared,and ventral horn neurons were acutely isolated to determine the reversal potential and dynamic indicators of glutamate receptor-mediated currents under glutamate perfusion.Results At 3 and 7 days after SCI,the orexin-A-treated rats showed significantly higher BBB scores and grip tilt angles than those with other interventions.Compared with those treated with DNQX alone,the rats receiving the combined treatment with orexin and DNQX had significantly higher BBB scores and grip tilt angles on day 7 after PCI.In the patch-clamp experiment,the ventral horn neurons from SCI rat models exhibited obviously higher reversal potential and greater rise slope of glutamate current with shorter decay time than those from sham-operated and orexin-treated rats.Conclusion Orexin-A promotes motor function recovery in rats after SCI possibly by improving the function of the ionotropic glutamate receptors.
Keywords：orexin-Aionotropic glutamate receptorspinal cord injuryspinal cord ventral horn neuronspatch-clamp recording
Publication Date：2025-05-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 1023-1030 )