Reversal of noradrenergic depletion and lipid peroxidation in the pons after brain injury correlates with motor function recovery in rats

Functional impairment after brain injury (BI) has been attributed to the inhibition of regions that are related to the injured site. Therefore, noradrenaline (NA) is thought to play a critical role in recovery from motor injury. However, the mechanism of this recovery process has not been completely elucidated. Moreover, the locus coeruleus (LC) projects from the pons through the rat sensorimotor cortex, and injury axotomizes LC fibers, depressing NA function. This was tested by measuring lipid peroxidation (LP) in the pons after sensorimotor cortex injury. Depression of function in the pons would be expected to alter areas receiving pontine efferents. Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: control (n = 16), injured (n = 10) and recovering (n = 16), and they were evaluated using a beam-walking assay between 2 and 20 days after cortical injury. We performed measures of NA and LP in both sides of the pons and cerebellum. We found a decrease of NA in the pons and the cerebellum, and a concomitant increase in the motor deficit and LP in the pons of injured animals. Recovering rats had NA and LP levels that were very similar to those observed in control rats. These observations suggest that the mechanism of remote inhibition after BI involves lipid peroxidation, and that the NA decrease found in the cerebellum of injured animals is mediated by a noradrenergic depression in the pons, or in areas receiving NA projections from the pons.