Characterizing the Neuroprotective Effects of S/B Remedy (<i>Scutellaria baicalensis</i> Georgi and <i>Bupleurum scorzonerifolfium</i> Willd) in Spinal Cord Injury

oleh: Tsung-Hsi Tu, Dann-Ying Liou, Di-You Lin, Hsin-Chun Yang, Ching-Jung Chen, Ming-Chao Huang, Wen-Cheng Huang, May-Jywan Tsai, Henrich Cheng

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-05-01

Deskripsi

The main causes of dysfunction after a spinal cord injury (SCI) include primary and secondary injuries that occur during the first minutes, hours, to days after injury. This treatable secondary cascade provides a window of opportunity for delivering therapeutic interventions. An S/B remedy (<i>Scutellaria baicalensis</i> Georgi and <i>Bupleurum scorzonerifolfium</i> Willd) has anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective, and anticarcinogenic effects in liver or neurodegenerative diseases. The present work examined the effect of S/B on injured spinal cord neurons in cultures and in vivo. S/B effectively reduced peroxide toxicity and lipopolysaccharide stimulation in both spinal cord neuron/glial and microglial cultures with the involvement of PKC and HSP70. The effect of S/B was further conducted in contusive SCI rats. Intraperitoneal injections of S/B to SCI rats preserved spinal cord tissues and effectively attenuated microglial activation. Consistently, S/B treatment significantly improved hindlimb functions of SCI rats. In the acute stage of injury, S/B treatment markedly reduced the levels of ED1 expression and lactate and had a tendency to decrease lipid peroxidation. Taken together, we demonstrated long-term hindlimb restoration alongside histological improvements with systemic S/B remedy treatment in a clinically relevant model of contusive SCI. Our findings highlight the potential of an S/B remedy for acute therapeutic intervention after SCI.