Journal: Cells
Article Title: Targeting Astrocytic Connexin 43 Mitigates Glutamate-Driven Motor Neuron Stress in Late-Onset Spinal Muscular Atrophy
doi: 10.3390/cells14231852
Figure Lengend Snippet: Glutamate assay showed increased expression in SMA, reversible by inhibiting Cx43. ( A ) Slice cultures showed higher glutamate levels in SMA compared to WT (*** p < 0.001). Gap27 treatment (200 µM) in SMA resulted in a decrease in glutamate levels (*** p < 0.001) to the level of WT ( p = 0.1). ( B ) Murine cell cultures also showed higher glutamate levels when SMN was knocked down (*** p < 0.001), with the levels decreasing with 200 µM Gap27 (*** p < 0.001) to the level of WT ( p = 0.85). ( C ) Similarly, hiAstrocytes showed increased glutamate levels when SMN was knocked down (*** p < 0.001). This significantly decreased after treatment with 200 µM Gap27 ( p < 0.001) to the level of the control ( p = 0.92). Analysis was conducted using unpaired Student’s t -tests. Abbreviations: SMA, spinal muscular atrophy; SMN, survival of motor neuron; WT, wild-type. hiAstrocytes, human induced astrocytes.
Article Snippet: A genetic knockdown was achieved by transfecting WT murine astrocyte cultures with mouse-specific SMN1 -siRNA (#SR408287, OriGene, Rockville, MD, USA) to induce SMN deficiency.
Techniques: Glutamate Assay, Expressing, Control