Study on the neuroprotective effect of curculigoside on rats with spinal cord injury / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To investigate the neuroprotective effect of curculigoside （CUR） on rats with spinal cord injury （SCI） based on phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten gene-induced putative kinase 1 （PINK1）/E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin signaling pathway. METHODS Taking male SD rats as subjects， 15 rats were randomly selected as sham operation group； the rest rats were chosen to establish SCI model by spinal cord impact method， and then were divided into model group， CUR low-dose group （36 mg/kg CUR， gavage）， CUR high-dose group （72 mg/kg CUR， gavage） and CUR high-dose+3- methyladenine （3-MA） group （72 mg/kg CUR， gavage+20 mg/kg autophagy inhibitor 3-MA， intraperitoneal injection）， with 15 rats in each group. Rats in each group were given corresponding liquid/normal saline， once a day， for 28 consecutive days. Basso- Beattie-Bresnahan （BBB） score and Rivlin inclined plate experiment were performed on the 14th and 28th day after administration； the pathological changes of spinal cord tissue in rats were observed in each group； the apoptosis of spinal cord tissue， the levels of oxidative stress factors [malondialdehyde （MDA）， superoxide dismutase （SOD）， glutathione （GSH）]， and the protein expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF）， glial fibrillary acidic protein （GFAP）， PINK1， Parkin， p62 and microtubule- associated protein light chain 3 （LC3） were all determined. RESULTS Compared with the sham operation group， obvious edema and bleeding in the spinal cord tissue of rats were observed in the model group， accompanied by a large number of inflammatory cell infiltration； BBB score and inclined plate angle， SOD and GSH levels， the protein expressions of BDNF， PINK1 and Parkin， and LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ ratio were significantly reduced； the apoptosis rate， MDA level， the protein expressions of GFAP and p62 in spinal cord tissue were significantly increased （P＜0.05）. Compared with the model group， the edema， bleeding and infiltration of inflammatory cells in the spinal cord tissue of rats were reduced in the administration groups， and the above quantitative indicators had been significantly improved （P＜0.05）； 3-MA could significantly reverse the improvement effects of the above indexes by CUR （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS CUR can promote the recovery of neurological and motor functions in SCI rats， improve the pathological injury of the spinal cord and inhibit apoptosis， which may be related to mitochondrial autophagy mediated by activating the PINK1/Parkin signaling pathway.