Batroxobin protects against spinal cord injury in rats by promoting the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor to reduce apoptosis

Yu,Hui; Lin,Bin; He,Yongzhi; Zhang,Wenbin; Xu,Yang

doi:10.3892/etm.2015.2368

Batroxobin protects against spinal cord injury in rats by promoting the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor to reduce apoptosis

Authors:
- Hui Yu
- Bin Lin
- Yongzhi He
- Wenbin Zhang
- Yang Xu
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Affiliations: Department of Orthopedics, The 175th Hospital of the PLA, Southeast Hospital of Xiamen University, Zhangzhou, Fujian 363000, P.R. China
Published online on: March 17, 2015 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2015.2368
Pages: 1631-1638
Copyright: © Yu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

The host response to spinal cord injury (SCI) can lead to an ischemic environment that can induce cell death. Therapeutic interventions using neurotrophic factors have focused on the prevention of such reactions in order to reduce this cell death. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic and vascular permeability factor. We hypothesized in this study that batroxobin would exhibit protective effects following SCI by promoting the expression of VEGF to reduce the levels of apoptosis in a rat model of SCI. Ninety adult female Sprague Dawley rats were divided randomly into sham injury (group I), SCI (group II) and batroxobin treatment (group III) groups. The Basso‑Bettie‑Bresnahan (BBB) scores, number of apoptotic cells and expression of VEGF were assessed at 1, 3, 5, 7, 14 and 28 days post‑injury. The BBB scores were significantly improved in group III compared with those in group II between days 5 and 28 post‑injury (P<0.05). At each time‑point subsequent to the injury, the number of apoptotic cells in group III was reduced compared with that in group II. Compared with group II, treatment with batroxobin significantly increased the expression of VEGF from day 3 until 2 weeks post‑SCI (P<0.05), while no significant difference was observed at day 28. These data suggest that batroxobin has multiple beneficial effects on SCI, indicating a potential clinical application.

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