title: Curcumin improves the recovery of motor function and reduces spinal cord edema in a rat acute spinal cord injury model by inhibiting the JAK/STAT signaling pathway.
abstract: Curcumin, a yellow pigment extracted from Carcuma longa, has been demonstrated to have extensive pharmacological activity in various studies, and it exhibits protective effects on injuries involving a number of human organs. The present study was designed to evaluate the potential effect and underlying mechanism of curcumin on the motor function and spinal cord edema in a rat acute spinal cord injury (SCI) model. The SCI model was induced by a heavy object falling. At 30min after the SCI was successfully induced, the animals were intraperitoneally given 40mg/kg curcumin. The Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan scores showed that curcumin moderately improved the recovery of the motor function in the injured rats, and hematoxylin-eosin staining demonstrated the role of this compound in reducing the hemorrhage, edema and neutrophil infiltration of the traumatic spinal cord. Furthermore, curcumin also inhibited the SCI-associated aquaporin - 4 (AQP4) overexpression and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and repressed the unusual activation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that curcumin exhibits a moderately protective effect on spinal cord injury, and this effect might be related to the inhibition of overexpressed AQP4 and GFAP and the activated JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Curcumin may have potential for use as a therapeutic option for spinal cord injuries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yufu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Gongping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinpeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Harbin Children's Hospital, Harbin 150010, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: jinglongyan@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jinglong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051401:Aquaporin 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D003474:Curcumin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004487:Edema / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D053612:Janus Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D050791:STAT Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051401:Aquaporin 4; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D050791:STAT Transcription Factors; D053612:Janus Kinases; D003474:Curcumin
keywords: Aquaporin–4; Curcumin; Glial fibrillary acidic protein; JAK/STAT signaling; Spinal cord injury