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The Role of Spinal Cord Motoneurons in the Mechanisms of Development of Low-Gravity Motor Syndrome

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We summarize here the results obtained from studies of the effects of gravitational unloading on the spinal system controlling the structure and function of the muscle apparatus. Important roles in the development of low-gravity motor syndrome were found for: the process of axon demyelination due to reductions in the expression of genes responsible for the synthesis of myelin proteins, decreases in the activity of one of the key enzymes of the cholinergic system, i.e., choline acetyltransferase, changes in the kinetics of quantum and non-quantum transmitter secretion processes, impairments to the autoregulation of acetylcholine release from motor nerve endings via the presynaptic cholinoreceptor system, and slowing of the axonal transport of substances in motoneurons innervating the postural musculature. In addition, signs of the activation of neuroprotective mechanisms were observed in simulations of low gravity (increased expression of heat shock proteins Hsp25 and Hsp70), preventing the development of motoneuron and glial cell apoptosis in the spinal cord.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kazan State Medical University, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 49 Butlerov Street, 420012, Kazan, Russia

    R. R. Islamov & E. E. Nikol’skii

  2. Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2/31 Lobachevskii Street, 420111, Kazan, Russia

    O. V. Tyapkina & E. E. Nikol’skii

  3. Russian Federation State Scientific Center Institute of Medical-Biological Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 76A Khoroshevskoe Chaussée, 123007, Moscow, Russia

    I. B. Kozlovskaya & A. I. Grigor’ev

Authors
  1. R. R. Islamov
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  2. O. V. Tyapkina
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  3. E. E. Nikol’skii
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  4. I. B. Kozlovskaya
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  5. A. I. Grigor’ev
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Correspondence to R. R. Islamov.

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 99, No. 3, pp. 281–293, March, 2013.

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Islamov, R.R., Tyapkina, O.V., Nikol’skii, E.E. et al. The Role of Spinal Cord Motoneurons in the Mechanisms of Development of Low-Gravity Motor Syndrome. Neurosci Behav Physi 45, 96–103 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-014-0045-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-014-0045-9

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