title: Protective role of selenium-enriched supplement on spinal cord injury through the up-regulation of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Spinal cord injury (SCI), as one of the common serious spine disorders, often leads to severe neurological dysfunction and even permanent disability, which will cause heavy economical burden for family and society. Currently, selenium-enriched products have an obvious role in the protection and recovery of SCI; however, its protective mechanism is still unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to explore the protective effect of selenium-enriched supplement (SES) on SCI, the adult rats were randomly divided into sham operation control (SC) group, ischemia-reperfusion model (IM) group and SES pretreatment (ST) group to investigate the change of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and its receptor-alpha (CNTF-Ralpha) during SCI in the presence of SES. The rats in IM and ST groups were subjected to the blockage of their abdominal aorta to establish the model of SCI; but the rats in SC group were subjected to sham operation without the blockage of abdominal aorta. The rats in ST group were fed with foods containing SES at the dose of equivalent 5 mg/L selenium in water before blocking their abdominal aorta. After 7 days, the rats were sacrificed to observe the structure of nerve cells through HE staining and the expression of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha by Western blot, immunohistochemical, and RT-PCR methods, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both protein and mRNA of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha were positively expressed in rats from SC group. The mRNA expression levels of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha in ST group were much higher than SCI model group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SES can execute a protective role in SCI through up-regulating the expression of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biological Resource Protection and Utilization of Hubei Province, Enshi, Hubei, China. nchen510@gmail.com.
authors.forename: X B
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Z X
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020934:Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D053739:Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D008297:Male; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012643:Selenium / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D020934:Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor; D053739:Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Receptor alpha Subunit; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D012643:Selenium