Effect of Estrogen Therapy on TNF-α and iNOS Gene Expression in Spinal Cord Injury Model.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a crucial complication that results in neurons degeneration. The SCI lead to triggering of secondary complications such as inflammation that in turn has a key role in neurodegeneration development. The previous studies showed that TNF-α and iNOS genes expression increased significantly after SCI. As a consequence, these genes overexpression intensify the inflammation and neuron degeneration process. In the present study, 32 male Wistar rats were chased and divided into four groups of eight. The SCI were induced in three groups and another group used as a sham. The estrogen hormone used as a therapeutic agent in rats with SCI. The results showed that injection of 10 μg/kg/12h estrogen hormone reduced the TNF-α and iNOS genes expression significantly and confirmed the role of progesterone in the reduction of inflammation reduce the inflammation. The numbers of intact neurons in Estrogen group were higher than other groups and showed that progesterone has protective effects on neuron death. The BBB test was performed and demonstrated that estrogen is an effective factor in the improvement of locomotor response. Our results suggested that estrogen hormone with anti-inflammatory activity can be an efficient agent for SCI complications therapy.
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Akram
A
Amini Pishva
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad
M
Akbari
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Akram
A
Farahabadi
Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ali
A
Arabkheradmand
Institute of Neuroanatomy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Cordian
C
Beyer
School of Allied Health Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Nasrin
N
Dashti
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Fatemeh
F
Moradi
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Gholamreza
G
Hassanzadeh
D000818:Animals; D004967:Estrogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*
D004967:Estrogens; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II
Estrogen; Inducible nitric oxide synthase; Iran; Spinal cord injury; Tumor necrosis alpha