MiR-155 deletion reduces ischemia-induced paralysis in an aortic aneurysm repair mouse model: Utility of immunohistochemistry and histopathology in understanding etiology of spinal cord paralysis.

Spinal cord paralysis is relatively common after surgical repair of thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) and its etiology is unknown. The present study was designed to examine the histopathology of the disease and investigate whether miR-155 ablation would reduce spinal cord ischemic damage and delayed hindlimb paralysis induced by aortic cross-clamping (ACC) in our mouse model. The loss of locomotor function in ACC-paralyzed mice correlated with the presence of extensive gray matter damage and central cord edema, with minimal white matter histopathology. qRTPCR and Western blotting showed that the spinal cords of wild-type ACC mice that escaped paralysis showed lower miR-155 expression and higher levels of transcripts encoding Mfsd2a, which is implicated in the maintenance of blood-brain barrier integrity. In situ based testing demonstrated that increased miR-155 detection in neurons was highly correlated with the gray matter damage and the loss of one of its targets, Mfsd2a, could serve as a good biomarker of the endothelial cell damage. In vitro, we demonstrated that miR-155 targeted Mfsd2a in endothelial cells and motoneurons and increased endothelial cell permeability. Finally, miR-155 ablation slowed the progression of central cord edema, and reduced the incidence of paralysis by 40%. In sum, the surgical pathology findings clearly indicated that the epicenter of the ischemic-induced paralysis was the gray matter and that endothelial cell damage correlated to Mfsd2a loss is a good biomarker of the disease. MiR-155 targeting therefore offers new therapeutic opportunity for edema caused by traumatic spinal cord injury and diagnostic pathologists, by using immunohistochemistry, can clarify if this mechanism also is important in other ischemic diseases of the CNS, including stroke.

Muscle side population cells from dystrophic or injured muscle adopt a fibro-adipogenic fate.

Muscle side population (SP) cells are rare multipotent stem cells that can participate in myogenesis and muscle regeneration upon transplantation. While they have been primarily studied for the development of cell-based therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, little is known regarding their non-muscle lineage choices or whether the dystrophic muscle environment affects their ability to repair muscle. Unfortunately, the study of muscle SP cells has been challenged by their low abundance and the absence of specific SP cell markers. To address these issues, we developed culture conditions for the propagation and spontaneous multi-lineage differentiation of muscle SP cells. Using this approach, we show that SP cells from wild type muscle robustly differentiate into satellite cells and form myotubes without requiring co-culture with myogenic cells. Furthermore, this myogenic activity is associated with SP cells negative for immune (CD45) and vascular (CD31) markers but positive for Pax7, Sca1, and the mesenchymal progenitor marker PDGFRα. Additionally, our studies revealed that SP cells isolated from dystrophic or cardiotoxin-injured muscle fail to undergo myogenesis. Instead, these SP cells rapidly expand giving rise to fibroblast and adipocyte progenitors (FAPs) and to their differentiated progeny, fibroblasts and adipocytes. Our findings indicate that muscle damage affects the lineage choices of muscle SP cells, promoting their differentiation along fibro-adipogenic lineages while inhibiting myogenesis. These results have implications for a possible role of muscle SP cells in fibrosis and fat deposition in muscular dystrophy. In addition, our studies provide a useful in vitro system to analyze SP cell biology in both normal and pathological conditions.