Effects of Valproic Acid Therapy on Rats with Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the efficacy of valproic acid in rats with spinal cord injury to reduce the risk of clinical conversion and provide a valuable reference for future animal and clinical studies. MethodWe searched scientific databases, including PubMed, Ovid-Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The relevant literature was searched from the establishment date of the database to June 28, 2023. The search results were screened, data were extracted, and the quality of the literature was evaluated independently by two reviewers. ResultsAmong 656 non-duplicated references, 14 articles were included for meta-analysis. The summary results showed that the overall Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan scores of the valproic acid intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group at 1-6 weeks after valproic acid intervention. Subgroup analysis showed that the injury model, administration dose, rat strain, country of study, or follow-up duration had no significant effect on the efficacy of valproic acid on rats with spinal cord injury. In addition, mesh analysis showed that high doses of the valproic acid group had a better effect on spinal cord injury rats, compared with the low dose group and the medium dose group. ConclusionTo date, this is the first systematic evaluation of the potential effects of valproic acid on motor recovery in rats with spinal cord injury. We concluded that valproic acid can promote motor recovery in rats with spinal cord injury, and higher doses of valproic acid seem to be more effective in rats with spinal cord injury. However, the limited quality and sample of included studies reduced the application of this meta-analysis. In the future, more high-quality, direct comparative studies are needed to explore this issue in depth.