Intracisternal Delivery of IGF-1 Mediated by a Recombinant Adenovector Is Neuroprotective for the Rat Spinal Cord Excitotoxic Damage Induced by KA

SISTI, MS; BELLINI , MJ; NISHIDA, F; FALOMIR-LOCKHART , E; PORTIANSKY, EL; ZANUZZI,CN; CAMIÑA, AE

Cordoba

Congreso; XXXIII Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience; 2018

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a potent neurotrophic factor whose neuroprotector effects on the CNS have been well documented. The intraparenchymal injection of kainic acid (KA) into the C5 segment of the spinal cord induces functional and histopathological changes. Among others, KA-injected animals show several motor and sensitive impairments on their performance, and a reduction in the neuronal counting and gliosis at the injected segment with a relative compromise of neighbor segments (C4 and C6). The aim of the present work was to evaluate whether the intracisternal delivery of IGF-1 mediated by a recombinant adenovector abrogates or at least decreases the structural and behavioral damaged induced by the spinal cord intraparenchymal injection of KA. Male Sprague Dawley rats were injected with 30 µl of recombinant adenovectors (4x1010 pfu/ml RAds) expressing fluorescent protein (DsRed) or rat IGF-1 three days before (day -3) the injection of 1 mM KA (day 0). Motor and sensitive trials were tested on both groups before and after KA injection (days -3, 0, 1, 2, 3 and 7). Animals were euthanized either on day 3 or day 7. RAd-IGF-1-injected rats performed better the trials and showed a higher neuronal counting at the injection segment as compared to RAd-DsRed-injected control. A neuroprotective effect of IGF-1 in this model is thus proposed. Further studies will focus on analyzing changes in glial cells and in the cytokine profile induced by the therapy.