Authors: Feng Zhang Fangcai Li Gang Chen
Publish Date: 2013/10/29
Volume: 35, Issue: 4, Pages: 583-588
Abstract
Apigenin a common plant flavonoid has been extensively studied and showed a wide variety of beneficial effects The aim of this study was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of starting apigenin treatment 3 day after spinal cord injury SCI in rat and to investigate the underlying mechanism SCI was induced using the modified weightdrop method in Sprague–Dawley rats The SCI animals were randomly assigned to five groups sham control group SCI model group the methylprednisolone sodium succinate MPSS group the 10 mg/kg apigenin treatment group and the 20 mg/kg apigenin treatment group First neuronal function after SCI was evaluated with Basso Beattie Bresnahan locomotor rating scale BBB and the result showed that injured animals treated with apigenin showed a significant increase in BBB scores To explore the underlying mechanism antioxidative effect of apigenin was assessed by measuring malondialdehyde MDA superoxide dismutase SOD and glutathione peroxidase GSHPx activities after SCI Apigenin treatment reversed the decrease of SOD and GSHPx activity and the increase of MDA level caused by SCI suggesting its antioxidative role in response to the injury In addition apigenin treatment decreased serum interleukin1β tumor necrosis factorα and intercellular adhesion molecule1 release after SCI suggesting an antiinflammatory effect of apigenin Finally apigenin treatment affected the expression level of apoptosisrelated gene Bax Bcl2 and caspase3 which indicated its antiapoptosis role after SCI Our data suggest that apigenin significantly promotes the recovery of rat neuronal function after SCI which is associated with its antioxidative antiinflammatory and antiapoptotic properties
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