Enhanced locomotor recovery in mice lacking GlcNAc6ST1 and GlcNAc6ST4 following spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) damages neural circuits and triggers pro-inflammatory responses, resulting in locomotor impairment. The carbohydrate sulfotransferases GlcNAc6ST1 and GlcNAc6ST4 modulate the function of blood monocytes and microglia. However, their specific roles and enzymatic relationships in neuroinflammation and functional recovery after SCI remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that mice deficient in both GlcNAc6ST1 and GlcNAc6ST4 (DKO) exhibit improved locomotor recovery compared with mice with a single deficiency. DKO mice exhibit reduced levels of monocytes and activated macrophages/microglia at the injury site alongside increased serotonergic neural fibers, indicating enhanced neural plasticity. RNA sequencing reveals down-regulation of collagen I genes and up-regulation of genes encoding synaptic membrane components in the injured DKO spinal cord. In addition, GALAXY glycomic analysis shows an absence of GlcNAc-6-sulfated N-glycans in the DKO spinal cord. These results suggest that GlcNAc6ST1 and GlcNAc6ST4 play complementary roles in promoting detrimental inflammatory responses post-SCI. Targeting these sulfotransferases could offer a novel therapeutic strategy to improve locomotor recovery after SCI.