Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 42, Issue 18, Pages 3716-3732Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2495-21.2022
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Funding
- National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NS093055, NS047101]
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs [RX002483]
- Wings for Life and Craig H. Neilsen foundations [316915, 733544]
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This study reveals the crucial role of dual leucine-zipper kinase (DLK) and leucine zipper kinase (LZK) in axonal repair after spinal cord injury. Deletion of both DLK and LZK inhibits axonal regeneration and sprouting induced by PTEN deletion, as well as naturally-occurring axon sprouting after injury. Interestingly, DLK and LZK play a role in both injured and uninjured neurons.
The limited ability for axonal repair after spinal cord injury underlies long-term functional impairment. Dual leucine-zipper kinase [DLK; MAP kinase kinase kinase 12; MAP3K12] is an evolutionarily conserved MAP3K implicated in neuronal injury signaling from Caenorhabditis elegans to mammals. However, whether DLK or its close homolog leucine zipper kinase (LZK; MAP3K13) regulates axonal repair in the mammalian spinal cord remains unknown. Here, we assess the role of endogenous DLK and LZK in the regeneration and compensatory sprouting of corticospinal tract (CST) axons in mice of both sexes with genetic analyses in a regeneration competent background provided by PTEN deletion. We found that inducible neuronal deletion of both DLK and LZK, but not either kinase alone, abolishes PTEN deletion-induced regeneration and sprouting of CST axons, and reduces naturally-occurring axon sprouting after injury. Thus, DLK/LZK-mediated injury signaling operates not only in injured neurons to regulate regeneration, but also unexpectedly in uninjured neurons to regulate sprouting. Deleting DLK and LZK does not interfere with PTEN/mTOR signaling, indicating that injury signaling and regenerative competence are independently controlled. Together with our previous study implicating LZK in astrocytic reactivity and scar formation, these data illustrate the multicellular function of this pair of MAP3Ks in both neurons and glia in the injury response of the mammalian spinal cord.
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