Brief Electrical Stimulation triggers an effective regeneration of Leech CNS

Brief Electrical Stimulation triggers an effective regeneration of Leech CNS, The search for therapeutic strategies to promote neuronal regeneration following injuries towards functional recovery is of great importance. Brief low-frequency electrical stimulation (ES) has been reported as a useful method to improve neuronal regeneration in different animal models, however the effect of ES on single neuron behavior has not been shown.,

The search for therapeutic strategies to promote neuronal regeneration following injuries towards functional recovery is of great importance. Brief low-frequency electrical stimulation (ES) has been reported as a useful method to improve neuronal regeneration in different animal models, however the effect of ES on single neuron behavior has not been shown. Here we study the effect of brief electrical stimulation (ES) on neuronal regeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) of adult medicinal leeches. Studying the regeneration of selected sets of identified neurons allow us to quantify the ES effect per cell type at the single-cell level. Chains of the CNS that were subjected to cut injury were observed for 3 days and the spontaneous regeneration was compared to the electrically stimulated injured chains. We show that the ES improves the efficiency of regeneration of Retzius cells, as larger mass of the total branching tree traverse the injury site with better directed growth with no effect on the average branching tree length. No antero-posterio polarity was found along regeneration within the leech CNS. Moreover, the microglial cell distribution was examined revealing more microglial cells in proximity to the stimulation site compared to non-stimulated. Our results lay a foundation for future ES-based neuroregenerative therapies.

Significance statement Recent studies have demonstrated that brief electrical stimulation (ES) can improve neuronal regeneration. However, the effect of ES on single neuron behavior has not been shown. In the current study we use a relatively simple nervous system, the adult medicinal leech, label identify neurons and study the effects of ES on their regeneration. We show that different neurons response differently to the same ES paradigm. Following brief ES (20Hz, 30min), more neuronal branches of the Retzius cells traverse the injury site with better directed growth. In addition, more microglial cells were detected in proximity to the stimulation site compared to the non-stimulated nervous systems. We conclude that ES triggers efficient neuronal regeneration and this effect might be mediated through differential microglial distribution.

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