Systemic administration of valproic acid stimulates overexpression of microtubule-associated protein 2 in the spinal cord injury model to promote neurite outgrowth

• Published in: Neurological research (New York) Vol. 37; no. 3; p. 223
• Main Authors: Abdanipour, Alireza, Schluesener, Hermann J, Tiraihi, Taki, Noori-Zadeh, Ali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.03.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors - pharmacology; Immunohistochemistry; Microtubule-Associated Proteins - metabolism; Neurites - drug effects; Neurites - pathology; Neurites - physiology; Neuroprotective Agents - pharmacology; Photomicrography; Rats, Wistar; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Spinal Cord Injuries - drug therapy; Spinal Cord Injuries - pathology; Spinal Cord Injuries - physiopathology; Valproic Acid - pharmacology; Histone deacetylase inhibitor; Circuit; Neurite; Valproic acid; MAP2
• ISSN: 1743-1328
• DOI: 10.1179/1743132814Y.0000000438

Growing body of evidence suggests that neurite outgrowth is a key determinant in the re-networking of damaged neuronal circuits as well as synaptogenesis. The essential molecule in this interesting process is microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) studies demonstrated that inhibition of MAP2 by antisense Oligonucleotide hinders neurite outgrowth. In the current study, we evaluated the effects of valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor on the expression of MAP2 in the rat spinal cord injury model by real time RT-PCR and immunoreactivity assays. We revealed that a significant increase in the MAP2 overexpression occurred in VPA-treated group compared to the sham group by quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunoreactivity assays for MAP2 gene expression. The present findings indicated that systemic administration of VPA stimulated MAP2 gene expression and also supports the involvement of the MAP2-mediated de novo re-arborization and neurite outgrowth of neurons, which might contribute to successful neuronal re-wirings. Thus, VPA has promising applications in the treatment of many neurological problems, such as neurotrauma, Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease, and others.