Expression changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets following acute spinal cord injury in rats / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the changes of the peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets following acute spinal cord injury and investigate the possible mechanism of these changes. Methods The SCI models of rats were made by Allen's method. Forty SD rats were divided into four groups, ie,normal control group, sham operation group, 100 g·cm group and 200 g·cm group. The expressions of CD4 and CD8 subsets of the peripheral blood T lymphocyte of the injured rats were determined by immunofluorescence labelling and flow cytometry at different times after injury. Results It was found that the expression of CD4 was significantly reduced to (30.40±4.76)% in 100 g·cm group and to (26.54± 9.34) % in 200 g·cm group, which were significantly lower than that of normal control group ( P ＜0.01 ). At 36 hours after injury, the ratio of CD4/CD8 was significantly reduced to 1.81 ± 0.55 in 100 g·cm group and and 1.29 ± 0.50 in 200 g·cm group, with statistical difference (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The immunoreaction is significantly depressed at the early stage of acute spinal cord injury. The severer injury results in more significant decrease of CD4 and ratio of CD4/CD8. The changes of CD4 and CD4/CD8 ratio can be used to indicate the severity of spinal cord injury.