Neurotoxicity research
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Neurotoxicity research · Nov 2017
Lithium Chloride Facilitates Autophagy Following Spinal Cord Injury via ERK-dependent Pathway.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one major cause of death and results in long-term disability even in the most productive periods of human lives with few efficacious drugs. Autophagy is a potential therapeutic target for SCI. In the present study, we examined the role of lithium in functional recovery in the rat model of SCI and explored the related mechanism. ⋯ However, lithium chloride enhanced the level of LC3-II while abrogated the abundance of p62. Furthermore, lithium treatment facilitated ERK activation in vivo, and inhibition of MEK/ERK signaling pathway suppressed lithium-evoked autophagy flux. Taken together, our results illustrated that lithium facilitated functional recovery by enhancing autophagy flux.