Drebrin expression is increased in spinal motoneurons of rats after axotomy

Drebrin has been known to act on actin filaments at dendritic spines to cause morphological change, and might be related to the plasticity of synaptic transmission. In the present study, changes of drebrin were examined immunohistochemically in the spinal motoneurons of rats following unilateral sciatic nerve transection. Drebrin-immunoreactivity (-ir) in the motoneurons was significantly increased on the lesioned side after 3 days. Confocal laser-scanning microscopic images of the motoneurons revealed conspicuous increase in drebrin in the submembranous region of the cells. After 10 weeks, drebrin-ir on the lesioned side decreased to a level not significantly different from that on the unlesioned side. The results suggested that drebrin played important roles in synaptic restoration in axotomized motoneurons.