Department of Biology and Anatomical sciencese, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Hearing Disorders Research Center, Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
J Chem Neuroanat. 2021 Apr;113:101924. doi: 10.1016/j.jchemneu.2021.101924. Epub 2021 Feb 7.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause various symptoms, including pain, complete or incomplete loss of autonomic, sensory, motor and functions inferior to the site of the damage. Despite wondrous advances in medicine, treating spinal cord injuries remains a thorny issue yet. Recently, the control of inflammatory processes after damage to the nervous system has been noticed as a promising therapeutic target. The goal of the present experiment was to identify the effects of apelin-13 on the histological outcome, inflammatory factors, and functional recovery in the animal contusion model of SCI were analyzed. 40 Female Wistar rats were randomly but equally assigned in laminectomy, contusion, PBS (1 mL PBS, i.p), control group which received apelin-13 (control + apelin, 100 μg/kg, i.p), and apelin-13 treatment groups. In the treatment group, apelin-13 (100 μg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally 30 min after injury. The weight-dropping contusion model was used for inducing SCI. The Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan scale (BBB), narrow beam test (NBT), rotarod test, and the open-field test was applied to evaluate locomotor and behavioral activity. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and ELISA technique was accomplished eight weeks after inducing SCI to measure the level of fibroblast growth factor FGF-1, FGFR1 and the inflammatory factors including interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-6, and IL-10. Furthermore, histological change was estimated by H&E staining. Our results showed that apelin-13 treatment after SCI led to a significant increase in functional recovery and behavioral tests. Stereological estimation illustrated that apelin-13 could reduce significantly central cavity volume and number of glial cells, and also increase significantly spinal cord volume and number of neural cells. PCR and ELISA evaluation shows a significant increase in IL-10 level and decrease in levels of FGF-1, FGF-R1, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (PIC). This study suggested that apelin-13 has neuroprotective effects by regulating the inflammatory process after SCI.
脊髓损伤（SCI）可引起各种症状，包括疼痛、自主神经、感觉、运动功能完全或不完全丧失以及损伤部位以下的功能丧失。尽管医学取得了惊人的进步，但治疗脊髓损伤仍然是一个棘手的问题。最近，人们注意到神经系统损伤后的炎症过程的控制是一个很有前途的治疗靶点。本实验的目的是确定 apelin-13 对动物挫伤模型 SCI 的组织学结果、炎症因子和功能恢复的影响。40 只雌性 Wistar 大鼠随机平均分为椎板切除术组、挫伤组、PBS（1mL PBS，腹腔内注射）组、对照组（给予 apelin-13，100μg/kg，腹腔内注射）和 apelin-13 治疗组。在治疗组中，apelin-13（100μg/kg）在损伤后 30 分钟腹腔内注射。采用重物坠落挫伤模型诱导 SCI。巴索、比蒂和布雷森汉姆量表（BBB）、窄束试验（NBT）、转棒试验和旷场试验用于评估运动和行为活动。实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）和 ELISA 技术在诱导 SCI 后 8 周完成，以测量成纤维细胞生长因子 FGF-1、FGFR1 和炎症因子白细胞介素（IL）-1β、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、IL-6 和 IL-10 的水平。此外，通过 H&E 染色评估组织学变化。我们的结果表明，SCI 后给予 apelin-13 治疗可显著促进功能恢复和行为测试。立体学评估表明，apelin-13 可显著减少中央腔体积和神经胶质细胞数量，增加脊髓体积和神经细胞数量。PCR 和 ELISA 评估显示 IL-10 水平显著升高，FGF-1、FGF-R1 和促炎细胞因子（PIC）水平显著降低。这项研究表明，apelin-13 通过调节 SCI 后的炎症过程发挥神经保护作用。
