Neuranagenesis factor and comprehensive gene analysis for spinal cord injury

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The present study was designed to investigate the effect of cyclic tensile stresses on cultured spinal cord cells using the Flexercell Strain Unit and DNA microarray technology.Spinal cord cells were isolated for culture from 15-day Sprague-Dawley rat embryos. The application of cyclic tensile stress reduced the viability of cultured spinal cord cells significantly in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Increasing either the strain or the strain rate independently was associated with significant decreases in spinal cord cell survival. There was no clear evidence of additive effects of strain level with strain rate. GO analysis identified 44 candidate genes which were significantly related to “apoptosis” and 17 genes related to “response to stimulus”. KEGG analysis identified changes in the expression levels of 12 genes of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, which were confirmed to be upregulated by RT-PCR analysis. These data may prove useful, as the accurate knowledge of neuronal gene expression in response to cyclic tensile stress will help in the development of molecular-based therapies for spinal cord injury.