alterations in mrna expression of some genes after spinal cord injury

spinal cord injury (sci) results in up regulation and/or down regulation of several genes that may affect neuronal death and subsequent loss of motor function and also neuropathic pain. to expand a practical therapy, it is essential to recognize the specific molecular pathways altered as a function of time after spinal cord injury. this will help to develop strategies for positive manipulation of the helpful pathways and to inhibit poisonous pathways. using in situ hybridization, real time rt-pcr, genechip, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, microarray analysis, differential display pcr, total gene expression analysis (toga), serial analysis of gene expression (sage), rapid analysis of gene expression (rage), massively parallel signature sequencing (mpss), restriction-mediated differential display (rmdd), and megasort, changes in the mrnas and proteins abundance of several genes have been studied at different times after sci in human and animals. in this paper we will review changes in mrna levels of some genes in spinal cord injury. it has been shown that as early as 3 hours after sci, increased transcription, inflammation, neurotransmitter dysfunction, ionic imbalance and cytoskeletal damage can be seen. by a day after sci, in addition to these effects, endogenous attempts to repair/regenerate and functionally stabilize the injured spinal cord begins.