Proteomic profile of Laser-dissected Motoneurons and Ependymal Cell Layer and Dorsal Root Ganglia in Control and after Spinal Cord Injury in Rat

Spinal cord injury triggers extensive molecular remodeling in neural and glial compartments. To resolve these processes at cell-type-specific resolution, we performed quantitative proteomic profiling of laser-microdissected motor neurons (MNs), ependymal cell layer (EC) and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) from control Wistar rats and 2 or 6 weeks after complete spinal cord transection at Th10. Retrogradely traced MNs innervating the soleus (SOL; 172 ± 39 cells per animal) and tibialis anterior (TA; 262 ± 74 cells per animal) muscles, ECs from the central canal (L3–L6) were microdissected from spinal cord slices with Leica LMD7000 Laser Microdissection System. Bilateral DRG (L3–L5) were also isolated. Samples from five animals per group were analyzed using TMT-based LC–MS/MS, yielding 1 221 proteins in SOL MNs, 1 186 in TA MNs, 1,520 in ECs, and 5 087, 3 740, and 3 086 in DRG L3, L4, and L5, respectively. The dataset supports cell-type-specific characterization of molecular responses after spinal injury.