Regenerative capacity and glial response after peripheral axotomy in the absence of the nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase enzyme

• Grant number: 23/00365-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Leite Rodrigues de Oliveira
• Grantee: Isabella Caroline Dantas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Accidents that reach peripheral nerves may cause, in more severe cases, definitive muscle atrophy, loss of sensibility and movement on the affected limb. The nervous system regenerative mechanism is still little known, being relevant to the metabolic components of the repair process. This research aims to investigate how Nicotinamide Nucleotide Transhydrogenase acts - which in recent studies has shown relevance in NADPH synthesis - by analyzing axon regeneration and glial response in mice submitted to the unilateral crush of the sciatic nerve, this being an ordinary procedure related to peripheral nerve regeneration, since, the damage disrupts the axons, but not the connective sheaths. Thereby, it is possible to analyze the injury, the regeneration and the functional repair. Therefore, it is sought to analyze the importance of the enzyme during the regenerative process subsequent to the peripheral injury. This way, it is used mice of the lines C57Unib.B6-Nnt-/- and C57Unib.B6-Nnt+/+, which were submitted to compression axotomy, and the functional recovery of their limbs were assessed by the walking test (walking track test - CatWalk System) and the morphology it is studied by immunohistochemistry, using nerve regeneration and glial reactivity markers. Although, so far, there have been no results, it is expected to be successful in the axonal regenerative process, as well as in the neuronal and glial response to the injury.