TY - JOUR
T1 - Daily intermittent hypoxia augments spinal BDNF levels, ERK phosphorylation and respiratory long-term facilitation
AU - Wilkerson, Julia E R
AU - Mitchell, Gordon S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant HL80209. J.E.R.W. was supported by NIH Training Grant HL 07654. We thank past and present members of the Mitchell laboratory for expert technical assistance and many helpful discussions.
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - Acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) elicits a form of respiratory plasticity known as long-term facilitation (LTF). We hypothesized that: 1) daily AIH (dAIH) preconditioning enhances phrenic and hypoglossal (XII) LTF in a rat strain with low constitutive LTF expression; 2) dAIH induces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a critical protein for phrenic LTF (pLTF) in the cervical spinal cord; and 3) dAIH increases post-AIH extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) activation. Phrenic and XII motor output were monitored in anesthetized dAIH- or sham-treated Brown Norway rats with and without acute AIH. pLTF was observed in both sham (18 ± 9% baseline; 60 min post-hypoxia; p < 0.05; n = 18) and dAIH treated rats (37 ± 8%; p < 0.05; n = 14), but these values were not significantly different (p = 0.13). XII LTF was not observed in sham-treated rats (4 ± 5%), but was revealed in dAIH pretreated rats (48 ± 18%; p < 0.05). dAIH preconditioning increased basal ventral cervical BDNF protein levels (24 ± 8%; p < 0.05), but had no significant effect on ERK phosphorylation. AIH increased BDNF in sham (25 ± 8%; p < 0.05), but not dAIH-pretreated rats (- 7 ± 4%), and had complex effects on ERK phosphorylation (ERK2 increased in shams whereas ERK1 increased in dAIH-treated rats). Thus, dAIH elicits metaplasticity in LTF, revealing XII LTF in a rat strain with no constitutive XII LTF expression. Increased BDNF synthesis may no longer be necessary for phrenic LTF following dAIH preconditioning since BDNF concentration is already elevated.
AB - Acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) elicits a form of respiratory plasticity known as long-term facilitation (LTF). We hypothesized that: 1) daily AIH (dAIH) preconditioning enhances phrenic and hypoglossal (XII) LTF in a rat strain with low constitutive LTF expression; 2) dAIH induces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a critical protein for phrenic LTF (pLTF) in the cervical spinal cord; and 3) dAIH increases post-AIH extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) activation. Phrenic and XII motor output were monitored in anesthetized dAIH- or sham-treated Brown Norway rats with and without acute AIH. pLTF was observed in both sham (18 ± 9% baseline; 60 min post-hypoxia; p < 0.05; n = 18) and dAIH treated rats (37 ± 8%; p < 0.05; n = 14), but these values were not significantly different (p = 0.13). XII LTF was not observed in sham-treated rats (4 ± 5%), but was revealed in dAIH pretreated rats (48 ± 18%; p < 0.05). dAIH preconditioning increased basal ventral cervical BDNF protein levels (24 ± 8%; p < 0.05), but had no significant effect on ERK phosphorylation. AIH increased BDNF in sham (25 ± 8%; p < 0.05), but not dAIH-pretreated rats (- 7 ± 4%), and had complex effects on ERK phosphorylation (ERK2 increased in shams whereas ERK1 increased in dAIH-treated rats). Thus, dAIH elicits metaplasticity in LTF, revealing XII LTF in a rat strain with no constitutive XII LTF expression. Increased BDNF synthesis may no longer be necessary for phrenic LTF following dAIH preconditioning since BDNF concentration is already elevated.
KW - Brain derived neurotrophic factor
KW - Extracellular regulated kinase
KW - Hypoglossal
KW - Intermittent hypoxia
KW - Metaplasticity
KW - Phrenic
KW - Respiratory plasticity
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U2 - 10.1016/j.expneurol.2009.01.017
DO - 10.1016/j.expneurol.2009.01.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 19416672
AN - SCOPUS:64249165170
SN - 0014-4886
VL - 217
SP - 116
EP - 123
JO - Experimental Neurology
JF - Experimental Neurology
IS - 1
ER -