Cytoskeletal protein synthesis and regulation of nerve regeneration in PNS and CNS neurons of the rat

Abstract

Following injury to the facial nerve, facial motoneurons respond with a rapid suppression of neurofilament synthesis, and an increase in actin and tubulin synthesis. In situ hybridization studies show that these changes are the result of alterations in levels of the corresponding mRNAs. The increased ratio of neurofilament to tubulin expression is also characteristic of developing neurons, and direct evidence for the idea that axon injury provokes a partial return to a developmental state is provided by the finding that there is rapid re-expression of a developmentally regulated α-tubulin gene. In magnocellular rubrospinal neurons, whose axons do not regenerate after injury, the same initial changes in gene expression occurred, but they were not sustained. We do not know whether this is cause or effect of the failure to regenerate, but we can conclude that injured CNS neurons have the potential to respond to injury by initiating a ‘regeneration programme’. Failure to sustain this programme is presumably due to differences in the trophic environment of central and peripheral axons.