Mouse Spinal Cord Vascular Transcriptome Analysis Identifies CD9 and MYLIP as Injury-Induced Players

Abstract

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) initiates a cascade of cellular events, culminating in irreversible tissue loss and neuroinflammation. After the trauma, the blood vessels are destroyed. The blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), a physical barrier between the blood and spinal cord parenchyma, is disrupted, facilitating the infiltration of immune cells, and contributing to a toxic spinal microenvironment, affecting axonal regeneration. Understanding how the vascular constituents of the BSCB respond to injury is crucial to prevent BSCB impairment and to improve spinal cord repair. Here, we focus our attention on the vascular transcriptome at 3- and 7-days post-injury (dpi), during which BSCB is abnormally leaky, to identify potential molecular players that are injury-specific. Using the mouse contusion model, we identified Cd9 and Mylip genes as differentially expressed at 3 and 7 dpi. CD9 and MYLIP expression were injury-induced on vascular cells, endothelial cells and pericytes, at the injury epicentre at 7 dpi, with a spatial expression predominantly at the caudal region of the lesion. These results establish CD9 and MYLIP as two new potential players after SCI, and future studies targeting their expression might bring promising results for spinal cord repair.

Teriparatide: an innovative and promising strategy for protecting the blood-spinal cord barrier following spinal cord injury

“…The BSCB maintains the ion homeostasis necessary for neural signal transmission in spinal cord tissue, as well as the separation of central and peripheral neurotransmitters to reduce neural crosstalk. Additionally, the BSCB ensures a low-protein microenvironment within the spinal cord substance, supporting immune surveillance and protecting the spinal cord during trauma and infection ( Lee et al, 2012 ; Jin et al, 2021 ; Martins et al, 2023 ). Most previous studies have predominantly posited that the blood-spinal cord barrier is an extension of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), potentially sharing similar morphological structures and functions to maintain homeostasis in the central nervous system ( Bartanusz et al, 2011 ; He et al, 2023 ).…”