ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Dietary intervention may be the most available, safe, economic and efficient approach to treat spinal cord injury. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of dietary restriction in the form of every-other-day fasting (EODF) on the pathological changes and functional recovery of rats with clip-compression injury of the spinal cord. METHODS: The models of spinal cord injury were established by a medical aneurysm clip in 36 Sprague-Dawley rats, and model rats were then randomized into four groups: group A with spinal cord injury and EODF, group B with spinal cord injury, group C with sham operation and EODF, and group D with sham operation. Food intake and body mass were observed. Motor functional recovery in rats was assessed by Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan scores at preoperative 1 day and postoperative 1 day, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks. At 12 weeks after operation, the morphological changes of the spinal cord were observed through hematoxylin-eosin staining. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan score in the group B was decreased to the lowest at postoperative 1 day, and gradually increased with time. At 8-12 weeks after operation, the scores in the group A were significantly superior to those in the group B. At 12 weeks after operation, hematoxylin-eosin staining showed less lesion of the spinal cord in the group A than the group B. These results indicate that EODF can improve the motor functional of rats with spinal cord injury, and exerts effective protection on the injured spinal cord.