Spinal motoneurons respond aberrantly to serotonin in a rabbit model of cerebral palsy.

ABSTRACT: Cerebral palsy (CP) is caused by a variety of factors that damage the developing central nervous system. Impaired motor control, including muscle stiffness and spasticity, is the hallmark of spastic CP. Rabbits that experience hypoxic-ischaemic (HI) injury in utero (at 70%-83% gestation) are born with muscle stiffness, hyperreflexia and, as recently discovered, increased 5-HT in the spinal cord. To determine whether serotonergic modulation of spinal motoneurons (MNs) contributes to motor deficits, we performed ex vivo whole cell patch clamp in neonatal rabbit spinal cord slices at postnatal day (P) 0-5. HI MNs responded to the application of α-methyl 5-HT (a 5-HT₁ /5-HT₂ receptor agonist) and citalopram (a selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitor) with increased amplitude an

SUBMITTER: Reedich EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10543617 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature