Reduction of Movement in Neurological Diseases: Effects on Neural Stem Cells Characteristics

Abstract

Both astronauts and patients affected by chronic movement-limiting pathologies face impairment in muscle and/or brain performance. Increased patient survival expectations and the expected longer stays in space by astronauts may result in prolonged motor deprivation and consequent pathological effects. Severe movement limitation can influence not only the motor and metabolic systems but also the nervous system, altering neurogenesis and the interaction between motoneurons and muscle cells. Little information is yet available about the effect of prolonged muscle disuse on neural stem cells characteristics. Our in vitro study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the biological and molecular properties of neural stem cells (NSCs). Our analysis shows that NSCs derived from the SVZ of HU mice had shown a reduced proliferation capability and an altered cell cycle. Furthermore, NSCs obtained from HU animals present an incomplete differentiation/maturation. The overall results support the existence of a link between reduction of exercise and muscle disuse and metabolism in the brain and thus represent valuable new information that could clarify how circumstances such as the absence of load and the lack of movement that occurs in people with some neurological diseases, may affect the properties of NSCs and contribute to the negative manifestations of these conditions.

Physical Fitness, White Matter Volume and Academic Performance in Children: Findings From the ActiveBrains and FITKids2 Projects

“…For example, obese children have shown lower motor competence and white matter reduction in the cerebellar peduncles than their normal-weight peers (Augustijn et al, 2017). Experimental studies using mice exposed to prolonged movement restrictions has also shown negative effects on neurogenesis and the role of trophic determinants (i.e., nerve growth factor mRNA and brain-derived neurotrophic factor) involved in this phenomenon (Desaphy et al, 2005; Adami et al, 2018). Consequently, overweight/obese children may benefit more from increased cardiorespiratory fitness.…”

S-adenosylmethionine tRNA modification: unexpected/unsuspected implications of former/new players

“…Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is particularly abundant in neural stem cells (NSCs) [65,66]; indeed, the growth of NSCs is driven by the addition of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the medium [67,68]. Based on this, we can speculate that a reduction of the proliferative capacity of NSCs, which have been found in an animal model of movement constraints, in which also the level of CDK5RAP1 was drastically reduced [69], could be related to an increase of the i 6 A intracellular form, which can induce a cytotoxic effect and increase autophagy, hence reducing cell proliferation, as demonstrated in a CIG model [59]. Indeed, the CDK5RAP1 level was found to be reduced in NSCs obtained from mice that underwent movement restraint [69], most likely because of the alteration of the proliferative and differentiative capabilities of these cells (Fig.…”

The crosstalk between glycosphingolipids and neural stem cells

“…; Adami et al . ). From then on, new possibilities of therapeutic approaches were imagined using these cells, hypothesizing their use in different neurological pathologies such as spinal cord injury, spinal muscular atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease (Bottai et al .…”

“…Then, lower vertebrates were found to possess regenerative capacity in the central nervous system (CNS) particularly birds during the song learning phase (Alvarez-Buylla et al 1990). Only at the end of the last century were NSCs found to be present in mammals (Reynolds and Weiss 1992;Bottai et al 2003Bottai et al , 2008Givogri et al 2008;Adami et al 2018). From then on, new possibilities of therapeutic approaches were imagined using these cells, hypothesizing their use in different neurological pathologies such as spinal cord injury, spinal muscular atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease (Bottai et al 2003Pluchino et al 2003;Corti et al 2007;Daniela et al 2007;Givogri et al 2008;Adami et al 2014).…”