Zinc has been shown to have multiple important and distinct effects on synaptic transmission and has been implicated as a critical mediator of neuronal injury. We have now discovered a previously unrecognized role for zinc as a major suppressor of axon regeneration and cell survival following axonal injury in the central nervous system (CNS). Under normal conditions, neurons in the adult CNS cannot regenerate damaged axons, placing severe limitations on the amount of recovery that can occur after spinal cord injury, stroke, and other types of neurological damage. The optic nerve is an integral part of the central nervous system (CNS) that has been widely used to investigate CNS regeneration due to its accessibility, anatomical simplicity, and functional importance. Although the projection neurons of the eye, the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), are normally unable to regenerate injured axons, this inability can be partially reversed in mice by treatments that activate RGCs' intrinsic growth state and by counteracting cell-extrinsic inhibitors of axon growth. However, these manipulations result in only limited regeneration, suggesting that our current understanding of the factors that regulate neurons' regenerative potential in the CNS is incomplete. Our preliminary data show that within 6 hours after injuring the optic nerve, there is a dramatic elevation of Zn2+ in the inner plexiform layer (IPL) of the retina, which contains synaptic contacts from amacrine and bipolar cells onto the dendrites of RGCs. This increase represents a very early event following optic nerve damage. Over the next few days, Zn2+ accumulates in RGC somata. Importantly, agents that chelate extracellular Zn2+ provide enduring protection against RGC death and have a dramatic effect on these cells' ability to regenerate injured axons through the optic nerve. We therefore hypothesize that Zn2+ is a major suppressor of the regenerative potential of axons after nerve injury as well as a cause of neuronal death.
The specific aims are to: 1) Characterize the timing, localization, and mechanism of Zn2+ accumulation following optic nerve crush; 2) Determine whether Zn2+ regulates axon regeneration via histone deacetylases; and 3) Characterize the pathways by which Zn2+ suppresses, and chelation enhances, RGC survival. These studies will add greatly to our understanding of the role that Zn2+ plays in the normal and injured nervous system, and may lead to treatments to help improve outcome after CNS injury.
Zinc signaling is essential for the normal functioning of synapses in the central nervous system (CNS) but also plays an important role in neuronal injury and death. In addition, we have discovered that ionic zinc is a negative regulator of axon regeneration in the central nervous system. Although retinal ganglion cells, the projection neurons of the eye, normally cannot regenerate injured axons, we found that injury to the optic nerve causes a dramatic increase in ionic zinc (Zn2+) in the retina, and that agents that chelate (bind) Zn2+ enhance retinal ganglion cell survival and promote axon regeneration through the optic nerve. The proposed studies will investigate the mechanisms by which Zn2+ regulates cell survival and axon regeneration, with the ultimate goal of developing new ways to enhance recovery in patients with CNS damage.
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