Effect of the Polyamine Component, tdmtn, on Apoptosis of Motor Neurons in Adult Mouse Spinal Cord Slices

• Main Authors: Hamid Khanmohamadi, Hamid Reza Momeni, Malek Soleimani Mehranjani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royan Institute (ACECR), Tehran 2010-01-01
• Series: Cell Journal
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Motor Neuron; Spinal Cord; Mouse; tdmtn
• Online Access: http://celljournal.org/library/upload/article/af_4375662Momeni.pdf

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the preventive effect of the polyaminecomponent N, N, N´, N´-tetrakis(2-aminoethyl)2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine (tdmtn)on apoptotic motor neurons in adult mouse spinal cord slices.Materials and Methods: Thoracic region of adult mouse spinal cords was sliced by atissue chopper into 400 μm slices and cultured in medium in the presence or absence oftdmtn for 6 hours. Morphological a features of apoptosis were evaluated using fluorescentstaining with propidium iodide and Hoechst 33342. The appearance of nucleosomal DNAfragmentation was studied using agarose gel electrophoresis. Our results were analyzedusing the one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s tests.Results: After 6 hours in culture, motor neurons displayed morphological sings of apoptosisincluding cell shrinkage, as well as nuclear and chromatin condensation. DNA extractedfrom slices cultured for 24 hours revealed nucleosomal DNA fragmentation on agarosegel electrophoresis. Tdmtn reduced the occurrence of apoptosis in motor neurons andsignificantly (p<0.01) increased the viability of these neurons after 6 hours of culturing.Conclusion: Tdmtn, as a polyamine component, could probably prevent the occurrenceof motor neuron apoptosis through calcium chelation.