RESUMO
Axonal damage is an early step in traumatic and neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). Damaged axons are not able to regenerate sufficiently in the adult mammalian CNS, leading to permanent neurological deficits. Recently, we showed that inhibition of the autophagic protein ULK1 promotes neuroprotection in different models of neurodegeneration. Moreover, we demonstrated previously that axonal protection improves regeneration of lesioned axons. However, whether axonal protection mediated by ULK1 inhibition could also improve axonal regeneration is unknown. Here, we used an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector to express a dominant-negative form of ULK1 (AAV.ULK1.DN) and investigated its effects on axonal regeneration in the CNS. We show that AAV.ULK1.DN fosters axonal regeneration and enhances neurite outgrowth in vitro. In addition, AAV.ULK1.DN increases neuronal survival and enhances axonal regeneration after optic nerve lesion, and promotes long-term axonal protection after spinal cord injury (SCI) in vivo. Interestingly, AAV.ULK1.DN also increases serotonergic and dopaminergic axon sprouting after SCI. Mechanistically, AAV.ULK1.DN leads to increased ERK1 activation and reduced expression of RhoA and ROCK2. Our findings outline ULK1 as a key regulator of axonal degeneration and regeneration, and define ULK1 as a promising target to promote neuroprotection and regeneration in the CNS.
Assuntos
Proteína Homóloga à Proteína-1 Relacionada à Autofagia/metabolismo , Axônios/metabolismo , Dependovirus/genética , Técnicas de Transferência de Genes , Vetores Genéticos , Regeneração Nervosa , Traumatismos do Nervo Óptico/terapia , Nervo Óptico/metabolismo , Traumatismos da Medula Espinal/terapia , Medula Espinal/metabolismo , Animais , Proteína Homóloga à Proteína-1 Relacionada à Autofagia/genética , Axônios/patologia , Células Cultivadas , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Neurônios Dopaminérgicos/metabolismo , Neurônios Dopaminérgicos/patologia , Regulação para Baixo , Feminino , Proteína Quinase 3 Ativada por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Crescimento Neuronal , Nervo Óptico/patologia , Traumatismos do Nervo Óptico/genética , Traumatismos do Nervo Óptico/metabolismo , Traumatismos do Nervo Óptico/patologia , Ratos Wistar , Neurônios Serotoninérgicos/metabolismo , Neurônios Serotoninérgicos/patologia , Medula Espinal/patologia , Traumatismos da Medula Espinal/genética , Traumatismos da Medula Espinal/metabolismo , Traumatismos da Medula Espinal/patologia , Fatores de Tempo , Proteínas rho de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Quinases Associadas a rho/metabolismoRESUMO
Axonal degeneration is a key and early pathological feature in traumatic and neurodegenerative disorders of the CNS. Following a focal lesion to axons, extended axonal disintegration by acute axonal degeneration (AAD) occurs within several hours. During AAD, the accumulation of autophagic proteins including Unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1 (ULK1) has been demonstrated, but its role is incompletely understood. Here, we study the effect of ULK1 inhibition in different models of lesion-induced axonal degeneration in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of a dominant negative of ULK1 (ULK1.DN) in primary rat cortical neurons attenuates axotomy-induced AAD in vitro. Both ULK1.DN and the ULK1 inhibitor SBI-0206965 protect against AAD after rat optic nerve crush in vivo. ULK1.DN additionally attenuates long-term axonal degeneration after rat spinal cord injury in vivo. Mechanistically, ULK1.DN decreases autophagy and leads to an mTOR-mediated increase in translational proteins. Consistently, treatment with SBI-0206965 results in enhanced mTOR activation. ULK1.DN additionally modulates the differential splicing of the degeneration-associated genes Kif1b and Ddit3. These findings uncover ULK1 as an important mediator of axonal degeneration in vitro and in vivo, and elucidate its function in splicing, defining it as a putative therapeutic target.
