The origins and dynamic changes of C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes after spinal cord injury

• Published in: Frontiers in cellular neuroscience Vol. 17; p. 1276506
• Main Authors: Zhao, Qing, Ren, Yi-Long, Zhu, Yan-Jing, Huang, Rui-Qi, Zhu, Rong-Rong, Cheng, Li-Ming, Xie, Ning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 22.12.2023; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Animal models; Antibodies; Astrocytes; C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes; Calcium-binding protein; Contusions; distribution; dynamic changes; Ependymal cells; Females; Genes; Genetic transformation; Hypoxia; Laboratory animals; origins; Penicillin; Phenotypes; Proteins; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; S100 protein; Spinal cord injuries; spinal cord injury; Toxicity; Transgenic animals; Transgenic mice; China; spinal cord injury; C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes; origins; distribution; dynamic changes
• ISSN: 1662-5102; 1662-5102
• DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1276506

Accaumulating studies focus on the effects of C3-positive A1-like phenotypes and S100A10-positive A2-like phenotypes of reactive astrocytes on spinal cord injury (SCI), however the origins and dynamic changes of C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes after SCI remain poorly understood. Through transgenic mice and lineage tracing, we aimed to determine the origins of C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes. Meanwhile, the distribution and dynamic changes in C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes were also detected in juvenile and adult SCI mice models and cultured astrocytes. Combing with bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and bioinformatic analysis, we further explored the dynamic transcripts changes of C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes after SCI. We confirmed that resident astrocytes produced both C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes, whereas ependymal cells regenerated only S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes in lesion area. Importantly, C3-positive reactive astrocytes were predominantly activated in adult SCI mice, while S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes were hyperactivated in juvenile mice. Furthermore, we observed that C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes had a dynamic transformation process at different time and , and a majority of intermediate states of C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes were found during transformation. RNA-seq and scRNA-seq results further confirmed that the transcripts of C3-positive reactive astrocytes and their lipid toxicity were gradually increased with time and age. In contrast, S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes transcripts increased at early time and then gradually decreased after SCI. Our results provide insight into the origins and dynamic changes of C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes after SCI, which would be valuable resources to further target C3- and S100A10-positive reactive astrocytes after SCI.