Quercetin can reverse high glucose-induced inhibition of neural cell proliferation, and therefore may have a neuroprotective effect in diabetic peripheral neuropathy. It is dififcult to obtain pri-mary Schwann cells and RSC96 cells could replace primary Schwann cells in studies of the role of autophagy in the mechanism underlying diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Here, we show that under high glucose conditions, there are fewer autophagosomes in immortalized rat RSC96 cells and primary rat Schwann cells than under control conditions, the proliferative activity of both cell types is signiifcantly impaired, and the expression of Beclin-1 and LC3, the molecular mark-ers for autophagy, is signiifcantly lower. After intervention with quercetin, the autophagic and proliferative activity of both cell types is rescued. These results suggest that quercetin can allevi-ate high glucose-induced damage to Schwann cells by autophagy.

Evidence suggests that autophagy may be a new therapeutic target for stroke, but whether acti-vation of autophagy increases or decreases the rate of neuronal death is still under debate. This review summarizes the potential role and possible signaling pathway of autophagy in neuronal survival after cerebral ischemia and proposes that autophagy has dual effects.

The use of iodine-125 (125I) in cancer treatment has been shown to relieve patients’ pain. Consid-ering dorsal root ganglia are critical for neural transmission between the peripheral and central nervous systems, we assumed that125I could be implanted into rat dorsal root ganglia to provide relief for neuropathic pain.125I seeds with different radioactivity (0, 14.8, 29.6 MBq) were im-planted separately through L4-5 and L5-6 intervertebral foramen into the vicinity of the L5 dorsal root ganglion. von Frey hair results demonstrated the mechanical pain threshold was elevated after implanting125I seeds from the high radioactivity group. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that nuclear membrane shrinkage, nucleolar margination, widespread mitochondrial swelling, partial vacuolization, lysosome increase, and partial endoplasmic reticulum dilation were visible at 1,440 hours in the low radioactivity group and at 336 hours in the high radio-activity group. Abundant nuclear membrane shrinkage, partial fuzzy nuclear membrane and endoplasmic reticulum necrosis were observed at 1,440 hours in the high radioactivity group. No signiifcant difference in combined behavioral scores was detected between preoperation and postoperation in the low and high radioactivity groups. These results suggested that the mechan-ical pain threshold was elevated after implanting125I seeds without inlfuencing motor functions of the hind limb, although cell injury was present.

Wallerian degeneration is a subject of major interest in neuroscience. A large number of genes are differentially regulated during the distinct stages of Wallerian degeneration: transcription factor activation, immune response, myelin cell differentiation and dedifferentiation. Although gene expression responses in the distal segment of the sciatic nerve after peripheral nerve injury are known, differences in gene expression between the proximal and distal segments remain unclear. In the present study in rats, we used microarrays to analyze changes in gene expression, biological processes and signaling pathways in the proximal and distal segments of sciatic nerves under-going Wallerian degeneration. More than 6,000 genes were differentially expressed and 20 types of expression tendencies were identiifed, mainly between proximal and distal segments at 7-14 days after injury. The differentially expressed genes were those involved in cell differentiation, cytokinesis, neuron differentiation, nerve development and axon regeneration. Furthermore, 11 biological processes were represented, related to responses to stimuli, cell apoptosis, inlfammato-ry response, immune response, signal transduction, protein kinase activity, and cell proliferation. Using real-time quantitative PCR, western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry, microarray data were veriifed for four genes: aquaporin-4, interleukin 1 receptor-like 1, matrix metallopro-teinase-12 and periaxin. Our study identiifes differential gene expression in the proximal and distal segments of a nerve during Wallerian degeneration, analyzes dynamic biological changes of these genes, and provides a useful platform for the detailed study of nerve injury and repair during Wallerian degeneration.

microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important regulatory role in the self-renewal and differentiation of stem cells. In this study, we examined the effects of miRNA-124 (miR-124) overexpression in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. In particular, we focused on the effect of overexpression on the differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neurons. First, we used GeneChip technology to analyze the expression of miRNAs inbone marrow-derived mesen-chymal stem cells, neural stem cells and neurons. miR-124 expression was substantially reduced inbone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells compared with the other cell types. We con-structed a lentiviral vector overexpressing miR-124 and transfected it intobone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Intracellular expression levels of the neuronal early markersβ-III tu-bulin and microtubule-associated protein-2 were signiifcantly increased, and apoptosis induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation was reduced in transfected cells. After miR-124-transfected bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells were transplanted into the injured rat spinal cord, a large number of cells positive for the neuronal marker neurofilament-200 were observed in the transplanted region. The Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotion scores showed that the motor function of the hind limb of rats with spinal cord injury was substantially improved. These re-sults suggest that miR-124 plays an important role in the differentiation ofbone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neurons. Our ifndings should facilitate the development of novel strategies for enhancing the therapeutic efifcacy ofbone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for spinal cord injury.

The aim of the study was to investigate the functional performance in children with spina biifda, using the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) to look into capacity of twen-ty-eight children with spina biifda with lesions at different levels in different dimensions of self-care, mobility and social function. Mean age of the patients was 3.5 ± 2.3 (1-10) years. In the muscle test carried out, 13 patients (44.8%) had no movements including pelvic elevation in lower extremity muscles and they were at level 5. Sixteen patients (54%) were non-ambulatory according to the Hoofer ambulation classiifcation. Raw and scale scores in the self-care, mobil-ity and social function domains both in the functional skill scale and in the caregiver scale were found to be lower compared to the data of the normal population. A statistically significant correlation was observed in the self-care values of the Functional Skills Scales and the Caregiver Assistance Scale measurements, which was positive for age and negative for Functional Ambu-lation Scale and muscle test (P< 0.05). A positive relation was found between the Functional Skills Scales-mobility area and age while a negative relation was observed between Functional Ambulation Scale and muscle test (P < 0.005). A negative relation was also found between Care-giver Assistance Scale-mobility and Functional Ambulation Scale and muscle test (P < 0.005). In our study, the functional performance of the children was found to be low. Low-level lesions, encouraging muscular strength and independence in mobility are all very important factors for functional independence.

Previous studies have shown that, anode block electrical stimulation of the sacral nerve root can produce physiological urination and reconstruct urinary bladder function in rabbits. However, whether long-term anode block electrical stimulation causes damage to the sacral nerve root re-mains unclear, and needs further investigation. In this study, a complete spinal cord injury model was established in New Zealand white rabbits through T9-10 segment transection. Rabbits were given continuous electrical stimulation for a short period and then chronic stimulation for a longer period. Results showed that compared with normal rabbits, the structure of nerve cells in the anterior sacral nerve roots was unchanged in spinal cord injury rabbits after electrical stimu-lation. There was no signiifcant difference in the expression of apoptosis-related proteins such as Bax, Caspase-3, and Bcl-2. Experimental ifndings indicate that neurons in the rabbit sacral nerve roots tolerate electrical stimulation, even after long-term anode block electrical stimulation.

Previous neuropathological studies regarding traumatic brain injury have primarily focused on changes in large structures, for example, the clinical prognosis after cerebral contusion, intrace-rebral hematoma, and epidural and subdural hematoma. In fact, many smaller injuries can also lead to severe neurological disorders. For example, cerebral microbleeds result in the dysfunc-tion of adjacent neurons and the disassociation between cortex and subcortical structures. These tiny changes cannot be adequately visualized on CT or conventional MRI. In contrast, gradient echo sequence-based susceptibility-weighted imaging is very sensitive to blood metabolites and microbleeds, and can be used to evaluate traumatic cerebral microbleeds with high sensitivity and accuracy. Cerebral microbleed can be considered as an important imaging marker for dif-fuse axonal injury with potential relevance for prognosis. For this reason, based on experimental and clinical studies, this study reviews the role of imaging data showing traumatic cerebral mi-crobleeds in the evaluation of cerebral neuronal injury and neurofunctional loss.