Gastrodin effects on the neural functional recovery and expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein in a rat model of spinal cord injury / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Gastrodin has been shown to inhibit the in vivo astrocyte activation after injury,improve the microenvironment of spinal cord injury (SCI), and reduce secondary injuries. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of gastrodine on the neural functional recovery and glial fibrillary acidic protein in a rat model of clamping-induced SCI. METHODS: Forty-eight adult Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups, and the models of clamping-induced SCI were established. The rats in sham group were only subjected to laminectomy; gastrodine group was given 100 mg/kg?d gastrodine; the sham and SCI groups were given equal volume of normal saline. The function recovery of spinal cord was evaluated by Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB) scores, and Rivlin inclined plane experiment at postoperative 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The morphological changes of spinal cord were observed after perfusion at 28 days, expression level of glial fibrillary acidic protein was detected by immunofluorescence, and changes of Nissl body were observed through Nissl staining. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: BBB and Rivlin inclined plane scores in each group were significantly decreased postoperatively, and the scores then increased with time; the scores at each time point in the sham group were significantly higher than those in the other groups (P <0.05); the scores in the gastrodine group were significantly higher than those in the SCI group from day 3 (P < 0.05). At postoperative 28 days, the expression level of glial fibrillary acidic protein was the lowest in the sham group, followed by gastrodine group, and the highest in the SCI group (P < 0.05). In the gastrodine and SCI groups, Nissl bodies were slightly stained partially dissolved, and the account of Nissl bodies in this two groups was less than that in the sham group (P < 0.05), but the gastrodine group had significantly more Nissl bodies than the SCI group (P < 0.05). The spinal cord in the sham group revealed the complete structure; in the SCI group, the structure of spinal cord was in disorder, syringomyelia formatted, and the gray-white matter boundary was obscure; gastrodine group showed smaller syringomyelia and gray-white matter boundary were clear. These results show that gastrodin can inhibit the proliferation of astrocytes after SCI, play neuroprotection, and improve motor function.