Involvement of upregulated SYF2 in Schwann cell differentiation and migration after sciatic nerve crush

SYF2 is a putative homolog of human p29 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It seems to be involved in pre-mRNA splicing and cell cycle progression. Disruption of SYF2 leads to reduced α-tubulin expression and delayed nerve system development in zebrafish. Due to the potential of SYF2 in modulating microtubule dynamics in nervous system, we investigated the spatiotemporal expression of SYF2 in a rat sciatic nerve crush (SNC) model. We found that SNC resulted in a significant upregulation of SYF2 from 3 days to 1 week and subsequently returned to the normal level at 4 weeks. At its peak expression, SYF2 distributed predominantly in Schwann cells. In addition, upregulation of SYF2 was approximately in parallel with Oct-6, and numerous Schwann cells expressing SYF2 were Oct-6 positive. In vitro, we observed enhanced expression of SYF2 during the process of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-induced Schwann cell differentiation. SYF2-specific siRNA-transfected Schwann cells did not show significant morphological change in the process of Schwann cell differentiation. Also, we found shorter and disorganized microtubule structure and a decreased migration in SYF2-specific siRNA-transfected Schwann cells. Together, these findings indicated that the upregulation of SYF2 was associated with Schwann cell differentiation and migration following sciatic nerve crush.