Satellite glia not DRG neurons constitutively activate EGFR but EGFR inactivation is not correlated with axon regeneration

Zubair Ahmed, Martin Read, Martin Berry, Ann Logan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To test the possibility that phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor (pEGFR) mediates axon growth inhibition, we determined if pEGFR levels were raised in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) after non-regenerating dorsal column (DC) lesions and suppressed in regenerating sciatic nerve (SN) and preconditioning (P) SN+DC lesioned DRG. Levels of EGFR mRNA and protein in DRG were unchanged between control and all injury models. Satellite glia and not DRG neurons (DRGN) constitutively contained pEGFR and, only in PSN+DC rats, were levels significantly reduced in these cells. In vitro, siRNA mediated knock-down of EGFR (siEGFR) mRNA and protein was associated with suppressed RhoA activation, but fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) was a mandatory requirement for DRGN neuritogenesis after addition of inhibitory concentrations of CNS myelin. Thus, EGFR activation in satellite glia was not consistently correlated with DRGN axogenesis and siEGFR reduction of pEGFR with attenuated Rho-GTP signalling did not promote DRGN disinhibited neurite outgrowth without exogenous FGF2 stimulation. Together, these data argue against a direct intra-axonal involvement of pEGFR in axon regeneration.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)292-300
Number of pages9
JournalNeurobiology of Disease
Volume39
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2010

Keywords

  • EGFR
  • siRNA
  • DRGN
  • Axon/neurite growth
  • DRG satellite glia

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