Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes a permanent neurological disability, and no satisfactory treatment is currently available. After SCI, pro-nerve growth factor (proNGF) is known to play a pivotal role in apoptosis of oligodendrocytes, but the cell types producing proNGF and the signaling pathways involved in proNGF production are primarily unknown. Here, we show that minocycline improves functional recovery after SCI in part by reducing apoptosis of oligodendrocytes via inhibition of proNGF production in microglia. After SCI, the stress-responsive p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) was activated only in microglia, and proNGF was produced by microglia via the p38MAPK-mediated pathway. Minocycline treatment significantly reduced proNGF production in microglia in vitro and in vivo by inhibition of the phosphorylation of p38MAPK. Furthermore, minocycline treatment inhibited p75 neurotrophin receptor expression and RhoA activation after injury. Finally, minocycline treatment inhibited oligodendrocyte death and improved functional recovery after SCI. These results suggest that minocycline may represent a potential therapeutic agent for acute SCI in humans.

We examined the effects of minocycline, an anti-inflammatory drug, on functional recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI). Rats received a mild, weight-drop contusion injury to the spinal cord and were treated with the vehicle or minocycline at a dose of 90 mg/kg immediately after SCI and then twice at a dose of 45 mg/kg every 12 h. Injecting minocycline after SCI improved hind limb motor function as determined by the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor open field behavioral rating test. Twenty four to 38 days after SCI, BBB scores were significantly higher in minocycline-treated rats as compared with those in vehicle-treated rats. Morphological analysis showed that lesion size increased progressively in both vehicle-treated and minocycline-treated spinal cords. However, in response to treatment with minocycline, the lesion size was significantly reduced at 21-38 days after SCI when compared to the vehicle control. Minocycline treatment significantly reduced the number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive cells 24 h after SCI as compared to that of the vehicle control. DNA gel electrophoresis also revealed a marked decrease in DNA laddering in response to treatment with minocycline. In addition, minocycline treatment significantly reduced the specific caspase-3 activity after SCI as compared to that of vehicle control. Furthermore, RT-PCR analyses revealed that minocycline treatment increased expression of interleukin-10 mRNA but decreased tumor necrosis factor-alpha expression. These data suggest that, after SCI, minocycline treatment modulated expression of cytokines, attenuated cell death and the size of lesions, and improved functional recovery in the injured rat. This approach may provide a therapeutic intervention enabling us to reduce cell death and improve functional recovery after SCI.

We evaluated the contribution of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and the events upstream/downstream of p38 leading to dopaminergic neuronal death. We utilized MN9D cells and primary cultures of mesencephalic neurons treated with 6-hydroxydopamine. Phosphorylation of p38 preceded apoptosis and was sustained in 6-hydroxydopamine-treated MN9D cells. Cotreatment with PD169316 (an inhibitor of p38) or expression of a dominant negative p38 was neuroprotective in death induced by 6-hydroxydopamine. The superoxide dismutase mimetic and the nitric oxide chelator blocked 6-hydroxydopamine-induced phosphorylation of p38, suggesting a role for superoxide anion and nitric oxide in eliciting a neurotoxic signal by activating p38. Following 6-hydroxydopamine treatment, inhibition of p38 prevented both caspase-8-and -9-mediated apoptotic pathways as well as generation of truncated Bid. Consequently, 6-hydroxydopamine-induced cell death was rescued by blockading activation of caspase-8 and -9. In primary cultures of mesencephalic neurons, the phosphorylation of p38 similarly appeared in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive, dopaminergic neurons after 6-hydroxydopamine treatment. This neurotoxin-induced phosphorylation of p38 was inhibited in the presence of superoxide dismutase mimetic or nitric oxide chelator. Co-treatment with PD169316 deterred 6-hydroxydopamine-induced loss of dopaminergic neurons and activation of caspase-3 in these neurons. Furthermore, inhibition of caspase-8 and -9 significantly rescued 6-hydroxydopamine-induced loss of dopaminergic neurons. Taken together, our data suggest that superoxide anion and nitric oxide induced by 6-hydroxydopamine initiate the p38 signal pathway leading to activation of both mitochondrial and extramitochondrial apoptotic pathways in our culture models of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease (PD)1 is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Although its precise etiology is unknown, such factors as oxidative stress, impairment of mitochondrial respiration, and abnormal protein aggregation may play roles in its pathogenesis (1, 2). Although the role of apoptosis in the process of dopaminergic neuronal death has been highlighted in studies using postmortem brains and experimental models of PD, other evidence implicates both apoptosis and non-apoptotic death in PD (3). Regardless, it is not clearly understood which signals may be involved in determining the mode of dopaminergic neuronal death.Among the upstream signals leading to neuronal degeneration, one may include the stress-activated protein kinases. These are c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) and p38 kinases, which are activated in response to various stimuli and are potent effectors of neuronal apoptosis (4). Most interesting, the phosphorylated forms of JNK and p38 are expressed in postmortem brains of PD (5). Moreover, evidence from experimental models of PD has implicated JNK in the process of dopaminergic neuronal death. For example, activation ...

Although the cause of neuronal death in Parkinson's disease (PD) is mainly unknown, growing evidence suggests that both apoptotic and non-apoptotic death may occur in PD. Using primary cultures of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and the MN9D dopaminergic neuronal cell line, we attempted to evaluate specifically the existence of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, focusing on the mitochondrial release of cytochrome c to the activation of the caspases after 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) treatment. Both immunofluorescent labeling and immunoblot analysis indicated mitochondrial release of cytochrome c into the cytosol after 6-OHDA or MPP+ treatment. However, the appearance of activated caspase-3 immunoreactivity in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons was detected only after 6-OHDA. Immunoblot and biochemical analysis also confirmed that activation of both caspase-9 and caspase-3 was induced by 6-OHDA, but not by MPP+. Consequently, cotreatment with a caspase inhibitor (zVAD-fmk) or with an antioxidant (N-acetylcysteine) not only deterred 6-OHDA-induced loss of TH-positive neurons but also abolished the appearance of activated caspase-3 in TH-positive neurons. In contrast, the same treatment did not spare MPP+-treated TH-positive neurons. Interestingly, a reconstitution assay indicated that the addition of ATP to the cytosolic fraction obtained from MPP+-treated cells was sufficient to activate both caspase-9 and caspase-3. Taken together, our results indicate that distinct mechanisms underlie neurotoxin-induced cell death. They also suggest that, after mitochondrial release of cytochrome c in dopaminergic neurons after neurotoxin treatment, intracellular levels of ATP may constitute a critical factor in determining whether a neuron will die by a caspase-dependent or -independent pathway.