[Effect of gold belt on the BDNF and NMDA receptor expression and behaviour changes in rats following traumatic spinal cord injury].
OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of gold belt (GB), a Chinese Herbal, on behavioral changes and brain derived neutrophic factor (BDNF) expression and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor level in rats subjected to spinal cord injury (SCI).


METHODS
Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: (1) Sham group; (2) Spinal cord injury group (SCI group); (3) Spinal cord injury followed with gold belt treatment (gold belt 50 mg/(kg x d), intragastric gavage once daily for 7 days) group (GB group). The Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale method was performed to evaluate the hindlimb motor function in the days 0, 3, 10 and 28. After 13 days, 8 rats in each group were treated with 1% sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg), myoloid tissue in T10 position was taken and stored in liquid nitrogen to detect NMDA receptor affinity and maximum binding amount (Bmax) with radioligand binding assay. After 28 days, rats were sacrificed and the spinal cords were harvested for immunohistochemistry to observe the localization of BDNF in the ventral and dorsal horn of the spinal cord.


RESULTS
After spinal cord contusion, GB resulted in a significant increase on the number of BDNF positive neurons compared with traumatic group, and increased BBB score and decreased NMDA receptor were also found in GB group. Whereas decreased BDNF expression, NMDA receptor affininty (Kd) were observed in traumatic injury group.


CONCLUSIONS
The gold belt treatment could effectively improve motor function, increase expression of BDNF, reduce the level of NMDA receptors in SCI rats. These data suggested that the gold belt played a role in the neuroplasticity after spinal cord injury.
LDepartment of Bone Injury, Yuxi Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yuxi 653100, China.
Zheng-Guang
ZG
Xu
Jun
J
Yang
Zhi-Ping
ZP
Lü
Yan-Hua
YH
Sun
Jin
J
Ru
Xiao-Song
XS
Li
Jiang-Hua
JH
Liu
Qi-Qin
QQ
Dan
Nan
N
Zhao
Yan-Bin
YB
Xiyang
D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D008517:Phytotherapy; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate