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The combination treatment of methylprednisolone and growth factor-rich serum ameliorates the structural and functional changes after spinal cord injury in rat

Spinal Cord volume 62, pages 17–25 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Study design

Preclinical pharmacology.

Objectives

Our study aims to evaluate the combined effect of Methylprednisolone (MP) and growth factor-rich serum (GFRS) on structural and functional recovery in rats following spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting

Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Methods

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to five groups: sham group (laminectomy); SCI group (the spinal cord clip compression model); SCI-MP group (30 mg/kg MP was administrated intraperitoneally (IP) immediately after SCI); SCI-GFRS group (GFRS (200 µl, IP) was administrated for six consecutive days); and SCI-MP + GFRS group (the rats received MP (30 mg/kg, IP) immediately after SCI, and GFRS (200 µl, IP) for six consecutive days). Motor function was assessed weekly using the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scale. After 4 weeks, we conducted the rotarod test, then removed and prepared the spinal cords (including the epicenter of injury) for stereological and histological estimation, and biochemical assays.

Results

The results showed that MP and GFRS combining treatment enhanced functional recovery, which was associated with a decrement in lesion volume, increased spared white and gray matter volume, reduced neuronal loss, as well as decreased necrosis and hemorrhage after SCI. Moreover, administration of MP and GFRS inhibited lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde (MDA) content), and increased antioxidant enzymes including glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) after rat SCI.

Conclusions

We suggests that the combination treatment of MP and GFRS may ameliorate the structure and functional changes following SCI by reducing oxidative stress, and increasing the level of antioxidants enzymes.

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Fig. 1: The Basso–Beattie–Bresnahan (BBB) scale was applied to assess locomotor behavior on days 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 after induction of spinal cord injury (SCI).
Fig. 2: Stereological analysis.
Fig. 3: Representative spinal cord Nissl staining in the experimental groups.
Fig. 4: Representative spinal cord Nissl staining at ×100 and ×400 magnifications.
Fig. 5: Biochemical assays.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed at the Histomorphometry and Stereology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. The authors would like to thank Dr. Seyed Ali Hosseini (Native-Speaking Language Editor) for improving the use of English in the manuscript.

Funding

Funding

This work was performed at the Histomorphometry and Stereology Research Center and was financially supported by grant No. 1401.009 from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shiraz Neuroscience Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Seyed Reza Mousavi & Majid Reza Farrokhi

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Seyed Reza Mousavi & Majid Reza Farrokhi

  3. Histomorphometry and Stereology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Mahdi Khorsand Ghaffari, Fatemeh Karimi, Somaye Keshavarz & Maryam Naseh

  4. Department of Physiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Mahdi Khorsand Ghaffari & Somaye Keshavarz

  5. Anatomy Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Fatemeh Karimi

  6. Pathology Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Amir Reza Dehghanian

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Contributions

SRM: Designing the study, supervising laboratory works. MRF: Conceptualization, Methodology. MKH: Performing laboratory works, collecting the data and Analysis of the data. FK: Conceptualization, Methodology. SK: Conceptualization, Methodology. ARD: Conceptualization, Methodology. MN: Analysis of the data, writing, editing and revising the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maryam Naseh.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All experimental procedures in the current study were done in accordance with the National Institutes of Health guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978) and were approved by the Medical and Research Ethics Committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran (Approval No. IR.SUMS.AEC.1401.009).

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Mousavi, S.R., Farrokhi, M.R., Ghaffari, M.K. et al. The combination treatment of methylprednisolone and growth factor-rich serum ameliorates the structural and functional changes after spinal cord injury in rat. Spinal Cord 62, 17–25 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-023-00942-x

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