The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system
Injury to the central nervous system (CNS) alters the molecular and cellular composition of neural tissue and leads to glial scarring, which inhibits the regrowth of damaged axons. Mammalian glial scars supposedly form a chemical and mechanical barrier to neuronal regeneration. While tremendous effo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Nature Publishing Group
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110160 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7019-3907 |
| _version_ | 1826211073926103040 |
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| author | Weber, Isabell P. Sheridan, Graham K. Koser, David E. Soleman, Sara Haenzi, Barbara Bradbury, Elizabeth J. Fawcett, James Franze, Kristian Moeendarbary, Emadaldin |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering Weber, Isabell P. Sheridan, Graham K. Koser, David E. Soleman, Sara Haenzi, Barbara Bradbury, Elizabeth J. Fawcett, James Franze, Kristian Moeendarbary, Emadaldin |
| author_sort | Weber, Isabell P. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Injury to the central nervous system (CNS) alters the molecular and cellular composition of neural tissue and leads to glial scarring, which inhibits the regrowth of damaged axons. Mammalian glial scars supposedly form a chemical and mechanical barrier to neuronal regeneration. While tremendous effort has been devoted to identifying molecular characteristics of the scar, very little is known about its mechanical properties. Here we characterize spatiotemporal changes of the elastic stiffness of the injured rat neocortex and spinal cord at 1.5 and three weeks post-injury using atomic force microscopy. In contrast to scars in other mammalian tissues, CNS tissue significantly softens after injury. Expression levels of glial intermediate filaments (GFAP, vimentin) and extracellular matrix components (laminin, collagen IV) correlate with tissue softening. As tissue stiffness is a regulator of neuronal growth, our results may help to understand why mammalian neurons do not regenerate after injury. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:00:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/110160 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:00:09Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1101602022-10-01T23:55:09Z The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system Weber, Isabell P. Sheridan, Graham K. Koser, David E. Soleman, Sara Haenzi, Barbara Bradbury, Elizabeth J. Fawcett, James Franze, Kristian Moeendarbary, Emadaldin Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering Moeendarbary, Emadaldin Injury to the central nervous system (CNS) alters the molecular and cellular composition of neural tissue and leads to glial scarring, which inhibits the regrowth of damaged axons. Mammalian glial scars supposedly form a chemical and mechanical barrier to neuronal regeneration. While tremendous effort has been devoted to identifying molecular characteristics of the scar, very little is known about its mechanical properties. Here we characterize spatiotemporal changes of the elastic stiffness of the injured rat neocortex and spinal cord at 1.5 and three weeks post-injury using atomic force microscopy. In contrast to scars in other mammalian tissues, CNS tissue significantly softens after injury. Expression levels of glial intermediate filaments (GFAP, vimentin) and extracellular matrix components (laminin, collagen IV) correlate with tissue softening. As tissue stiffness is a regulator of neuronal growth, our results may help to understand why mammalian neurons do not regenerate after injury. Herchel Smith Foundation Wellcome Trust-MIT Fellowships EMBO Long-Term Fellowship (ALTF 1263-2015) European Commission. Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (LTFCOFUND2013, GA-2013- 609409) German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Scholarship) Medical Research Council (Great Britain) (Career Development Award G1100312/1) 2017-06-22T13:46:30Z 2017-06-22T13:46:30Z 2017-03 2016-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-1723 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110160 Moeendarbary, Emad, Isabell P. Weber, Graham K. Sheridan, David E. Koser, Sara Soleman, Barbara Haenzi, Elizabeth J. Bradbury, James Fawcett, and Kristian Franze. “The Soft Mechanical Signature of Glial Scars in the Central Nervous System.” Nature Communications 8 (March 20, 2017): 14787. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7019-3907 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14787 Nature Communications Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Nature Publishing Group Nature |
| spellingShingle | Weber, Isabell P. Sheridan, Graham K. Koser, David E. Soleman, Sara Haenzi, Barbara Bradbury, Elizabeth J. Fawcett, James Franze, Kristian Moeendarbary, Emadaldin The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| title | The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| title_full | The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| title_fullStr | The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| title_full_unstemmed | The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| title_short | The soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| title_sort | soft mechanical signature of glial scars in the central nervous system |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110160 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7019-3907 |
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