title: Simvastatin treatment improves functional recovery after experimental spinal cord injury by upregulating the expression of BDNF and GDNF.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of simvastatin treatment starting 1 day after spinal cord injury (SCI) in rat and to investigate the underlying mechanism. Spinal cord injury was induced in adult female Sprague-Dawley rats after laminectomy at T9-T10. Then additionally with sham group (laminectomy only) the SCI animals were randomly divided into 3 groups: vehicle-treated group; 5-mg/kg simvastatin-treated group; and 10-mg/kg simvastatin-treated group. Simvastatin or vehicle was administered orally at 1 day after SCI and then daily for 5 weeks. Locomotor functional recovery was assessed during 8 weeks postoperation by performing open-field locomotor test and inclined-plane test. At the end of study, motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were assessed to evaluate the integrity of spinal cord pathways. Then, the animals were killed, and 1-cm segments of spinal cord encompassing the injury site were removed for histopathological analysis. Immunohistochemistry was performed to observe the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in the spinal cord. Results show that the simvastatin-treated animals showed significantly better locomotor function recovery, better electrophysiological outcome, less myelin loss, and higher expression of BDNF and GDNF. These findings suggest that simvastatin treatment starting 1 day after SCI can significantly improve locomotor recovery, and this neuroprotective effect may be related to the upregulation of BDNF and GDNF. Therefore, simvastatin may be useful as a promising therapeutic agent for SCI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoguang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yingsheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jinglin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Zhongqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhongjun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gengting
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.forename: Chunli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000187:drug effects*; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D019821:Simvastatin