Abstract
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive and complex disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) for which there is no clinical treatment. Blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) rupture is a critical event in SCI that aggravates nerve injury. Therefore, maintaining the integrity of the BSCB may be a potential method to treat SCI. Here, we showed that patchouli alcohol (PA) exerts protective effects against SCI. We discovered that PA significantly prevented hyperpermeability of the BSCB by reducing the loss of tight junctions (TJs) and endothelial cells. PA also suppressed endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, in a rat model of SCI, PA effectively improved neurological deficits. Overall, these results prove that PA exerts neuroprotective effects by maintaining BSCB integrity and thus be a promising candidate for SCI treatment.
Highlights
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a disorder associated with high mortality that leads to physical disabilities and imposes a large economic burden (Schwab et al, 2018; Badhiwala et al, 2019; James et al, 2019)
The Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK-8) assay was performed to assess the cytotoxicity of patchouli alcohol (PA) and determine the appropriate concentration
Human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) were cultured in vitro, and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) was used to mimic the microenvironment after SCI
Summary
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a disorder associated with high mortality that leads to physical disabilities and imposes a large economic burden (Schwab et al, 2018; Badhiwala et al, 2019; James et al, 2019). Neurological impairment associated with SCI can be classified into two phases: primary acute injury and subsequent secondary injury (Ahuja et al, 2017a,b). Secondary injury dramatically aggravates neuronal death and expands the damaged area (Tran et al, 2018). Because of the irreversibility of mechanical injury, therapeutic strategies for SCI mainly alleviate secondary injury. The pathophysiological process of secondary nerve injury is mostly related to blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) rupture (Lee et al, 2016). Post-SCI, the permeability of the BSCB to immune cells and neurotoxic substances is increased, leading
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