Lipin1 depletion coordinates neuronal signaling pathways to promote motor and sensory axon regeneration after spinal cord injury

Abstract

Adult central nervous system (CNS) neurons down-regulate growth programs after injury, leading to persistent regeneration failure. Coordinated lipids metabolism is required to synthesize membrane components during axon regeneration. However, lipids also function as cell signaling molecules. Whether lipid signaling contributes to axon regeneration remains unclear. In this study, we showed that lipin1 orchestrates mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and STAT3 signaling pathways to determine axon regeneration. We established an mTOR-lipin1-phosphatidic acid/lysophosphatidic acid-mTOR loop that acts as a positive feedback inhibitory signaling, contributing to the persistent suppression of CNS axon regeneration following injury. In addition, lipin1 knockdown (KD) enhances corticospinal tract (CST) sprouting after unilateral pyramidotomy and promotes CST regeneration following complete spinal cord injury (SCI). Furthermore, lipin1 KD enhances sensory axon regeneration after SCI. Overall, our research reveals that lipin1 functions as a central regulator to coordinate mTOR and STAT3 signaling pathways in the CNS neurons and highlights the potential of lipin1 as a promising therapeutic target for promoting the regeneration of motor and sensory axons after SCI.