Decrease in neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit and PSD-93 transcript levels in the male mouse MPG after cavernous nerve injury or explant culture

作者：Girard Beatrice M; Merriam Laura A; Tompkins John D; Vizzard Margaret A; Parsons Rodney L^*

来源：American Journal of Physiology - Renal Fluid and Electrolyte Physiology, 2013, 305(10): F1504-F1512.

DOI：10.1152/ajprenal.00343.2013

• major pelvic ganglia
• neuronal nicotinic receptor subunits
• axotomy of postganglionic neurons
• neuronal response to injury

Decrease in neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit and PSD-93 transcript levels in the male mouse MPG after cavernous nerve injury or explant culture. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 305: F1504-F1512, 2013. First published September 18, 2013; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00343.2013.-Quantitative real-time PCR was used to test whether cavernous nerve injury leads to a decrease in major pelvic ganglia (MPG) neuronal nicotinic ACh receptor (nAChR) subunit and postsynaptic density (PSD)-93 transcript levels. Subunits alpha(3), alpha(4), and alpha(7), commonly expressed in the MPG, were selected for analysis. After 72 h in explant culture, MPG transcript levels for alpha(3), beta(4), alpha(7), and PSD-93 were significantly depressed. Three days after cavernous nerve axotomy or crush in vivo, transcript levels for alpha(3), beta(4), and PSD-93, but not for alpha(7), were significantly depressed. Three days after dissection of the cavernous nerve free of underlying tissue and application of a 5-mm lateral stretch (manipulation), transcript levels for alpha(3) and PSD-93 were also significantly decreased. Seven days after all three surgical procedures, alpha(3) transcript levels remained depressed, but PSD-93 transcript levels were still decreased only after axotomy or nerve crush. At 30 days postsurgery, transcript levels for the nAChR subunits and PSD-93 had recovered. ACh-induced currents were significantly smaller in MPG neurons dissociated from 3-day explant cultured ganglia than from those recorded in neurons dissociated from acutely isolated ganglia; this observation provides direct evidence showing that a decrease in nAChR function was coincident with a decrease in nAChR subunit transcript levels. We conclude that a downregulation of nAChR subunit and PSD-93 expression after cavernous nerve injury, or even manipulation, could interrupt synaptic transmission within the MPG and thus contribute to the loss of neural control of urogenital organs after pelvic surgeries.

• 出版日期2013-11