Anti-inflammatory mechanism of low dose methotrexate and its application in spinal cord injury / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Methotrexate (MTX)has dual effects of anti-inflam-matory and immune suppression,and its pharmacological mecha-nism is complex,diverse and synergistic.This paper summari-zes the main anti-inflammatory mechanism of low-dose MTX,in-cluding inhibition of JAK/STAT pathway,inhibition of inflam-matory reaction and immune response,increasing the accumula-tion of adenosine and the function of intracellular metabolites (methotrexate polyglutamate).In addition,low-dose MTX can inhibit oxidation by decreasing the level of lipid peroxidation, suppress the inflammatory response to secondary spinal cord in-jury,reduce spinal cord ischemia reperfusion injury and neuro-pathic pain,thus playing a neuroprotective role by a series of pharmacological mechanism.The anti-inflammatory mechanism of low-dose MTX and its application in spinal cord injury were reviewed,to guide the further research on the anti-inflammatory effect of MTX,and provide a theoretical basis for new drugs for clinical treatment of spinal cord injury.