Abstract
Study design:
Assessment of the potential protective effects of inosine on an animal model of spinal cord injury.
Objectives:
Our previous studies have demonstrated that inosine can directly protect neurons in vitro from zinc-induced injury and axotomized retinal ganglion cells of rats in vivo. This investigation was carried out to examine the possible protective effects of inosine on spinal cord secondary degeneration.
Setting:
Institute of Neurosciences, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Methods:
Compressive spinal cord injury (95-g load for 1 min) model was established in rats, and inosine was administrated beginning at different time points (2, 12, or 24 h) after spinal cord injury.
Results:
Using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique and hematoxylin and eosin staining, our study demonstrated that administration of inosine as late as 12 h after injury significantly reduced the total volume of spinal cord degenerative areas and the number of apoptotic cells 3 days following the trauma.
Conclusion:
Inosine can significantly reduce the spread of secondary degeneration and the cell death following spinal cord injury in adult rats. These findings may find a clinical application in the treatment of acute spinal cord injury.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the research Grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (2003CB515031) and Natural Science Foundation of China (30371466). The authors thank Drs Bai-Ren Wang and Wei-Lin Jin for their helpful comments on the manuscript.
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Liu, F., You, SW., Yao, LP. et al. Secondary degeneration reduced by inosine after spinal cord injury in rats. Spinal Cord 44, 421–426 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101878
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101878
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