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Oligodendrocyte apoptosis mediated demyelination is a pathological change characteristic of compressed spinal cord injury (CSCI). However, the mechanism of demyelination due to oligodendrocyte apoptosis is not known. In this study, after successfully establishing a rat CSCI model using a custom-made compressor, we investigated the pathological changes, MBP expression, as well as apoptosis-related protein (p53, active caspase-3) expression to determine whether or not apoptosis and demyelination occurred after injury. To understand the possible mechanism of oligodendrocyte apoptosis, caspase-12 and cytochrome C were analyzed to explore the relationship between oligodendrocyte apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum(ER)-mitochondria interaction. The transcription factor, E2F1, was also detected by immunofluorescence and Western blot assays. The results showed that CSCI increased the expression levels of p53, E2F1 and active caspase-3 followed by the swelling and breakdown of myelin sheaths. The number of myelinated nerve fibers also decreased with down-regulated expression of MBP. Expression levels of caspase-12 and cytochrome C were enhanced along with a reduction in the number of oligodendrocytes. After treatment of CSCI in rats with Pifithrin-μ(PFT-μ), a specific inhibitor of p53, pathomorphological changes of myelin sheath improved significantly. Expression levels of E2F1, active caspase-3, caspase-12 and cytochrome C were down-regulated, consistent with reduced the number of apoptotic oligodendrocytes. These results demonstrated that over-expression of p53 could mediate oligodendrocyte apoptosis thus resulting in demyelination in two ways; by enhancing ER-mitochondria interaction and by triggering the E2F1 mediated apoptosis pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repeated administration of addictive drugs induces neuronal apoptosis and the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Our present study investigated the effects of treatments with different addictive drugs on gene expression of murine double minute clone 2 (MDM2), a key negative regulator of p53 and an important mediator in cell apoptosis. The level of MDM2 gene expression in rat brain was assessed using in situ hybridization histochemistry. In normal adult rat brain, MDM2 expression was at a very low level but MDM2 mRNA-positive cells were detected in various regions including cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, amygdala, periaqueductal gray and locus ceruleus. After a single morphine injection, MDM2 gene expression increased significantly in hippocampus, amygdala and cortex; however, such up-regulation of MDM2 gene expression was significantly reduced after repeated morphine administration. Moreover, 24 h after cessation of chronic morphine exposure, MDM2 mRNA increased again to a level comparable to that of the acute morphine group. Acute heroin or cocaine administration also significantly increased MDM2 gene expression in hippocampus, but not in cortex. In thalamus, no change was detected after acute or chronic treatment with morphine, heroin, or cocaine. Thus we demonstrated for the first time that the administration of addictive drugs regulate MDM2 gene expression in distinct rat brain regions and these data suggest that MDM2 may play an important role in the development of drug addiction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]