ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the expression of transforming growth factor beta(TGF-?)in rats’ spinal cords of acute contusive injury model and try to explore the possible mechanism.Methods 20 Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups. Ten rats underwent spinal cord contusive injury opration as the experimental group by using modified Allen’s method (using a weight-drop device) after the T10 spinous process and the corresponding vertebral lamina were removed. The other ten rats received only T10 laminectomy without spinal cord injury as the sham-operated control group. The injured spinal cord in the two groups was taken out respectively at 24h after injury.Results Pathological alterations were detected by H-E staining and the expression of TGF-? was analyzed by immunohistochemistry analyses. From H-E staining, we could see the microstructure of spinal cord was norma1 in sham-operated control group and the pathological alterations were apparent in the injured spinal cord area in the experimental group as a central core lesion which consisted of spared fibers, variable cyst formations, gliosis and scarring with a spare peripheral rim of tissue. We also found TGF-? expression of spinal cord was increased in experimental group when compared with sham-operated control group (P