Open AccessUpregulated Ras/Raf/ERK1/2 signaling pathway: a new hope in the repair of spinal cord injury
Author(s) -
Tao Liu,
Fujiang Cao,
Dongdong Xu,
Yunqiang Xu,
Shiqing Feng
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.156984
Subject(s) - downregulation and upregulation , kinase , spinal cord , mapk/erk pathway , signal transduction , spinal cord injury , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , western blot , mitogen activated protein kinase , biology , cancer research , neuroscience , biochemistry , gene
An increasing number of studies report that the Ras/Raf/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway has a death-promoting apoptotic function in neural cells. We hypothesized that the Ras/Raf/ERK1/2 signaling pathway may be abnormally regulated in rat injured spinal cord models. The weight drop method was used to establish rat spinal cord injury at T9. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining revealed Ras expression was dramatically elevated, and the phosphorylations of A-Raf, B-Raf and C-Raf were all upregulated in the injured spinal cord. Both mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1/2 and ERK1/2, which belong to the Ras/Raf signaling kinases, were upregulated. These results indicate that Ras/Raf/ERK1/2 signaling may be upregulated in injured spinal cord and are involved in recovery after spinal cord injury.