Pharmacological interventions targeting the microcirculation following traumatic spinal cord injury

Traumatic spinal cord injury is a devastating disorder chara cterized by sensory,motor,and autonomic dysfunction that seve rely compromises an individual's ability to perform activities of daily living.These adve rse outcomes are closely related to the complex mechanism of spinal cord injury,the limited regenerative capacity of central neurons,and the inhibitory environment fo rmed by traumatic injury.Disruption to the microcirculation is an important pathophysiological mechanism of spinal cord injury.A number of therapeutic agents have been shown to improve the injury environment,mitigate secondary damage,and/or promote regeneration and repair.Among them,the spinal cord microcirculation has become an important target for the treatment of spinal cord injury.Drug inte rventions targeting the microcirculation can improve the microenvironment and promote recovery following spinal cord injury.These drugs target the structure and function of the spinal cord microcirculation and are essential for maintaining the normal function of spinal neuro ns,axons,and glial cells.This review discusses the pathophysiological role of spinal cord microcirculation in spinal cord injury,including its structure and histopathological changes.Further,it summarizes the progress of drug therapies targeting the spinal cord mic rocirc ulation after spinal cord injury.

Electrical stimulation modulates injury potentials in rats after spinal cord injury

An injury potential is the direct current potential difference between the site of spinal cord injury and the healthy nerves. Its initial amplitude is a significant indicator of the severity of spinal cord injury, and many cations, such as sodium and calcium, account for the major portion of injury potentials. This injury potential, as wel as injury current, can be modulated by direct current field stimulation;however, the appropriate parameters of the electrical field are hard to define. In this paper, injury potential is used as a parameter to adjust the intensity of electrical stimulation. Injury potential could be modulated to slightly above 0 mV （as the anode-centered group） by placing the anodes at the site of the injured spinal cord and the cathodes at the rostral and caudal sections, or around-70 mV, which is resting membrane potential （as the cathode-centered group） by reversing the polarity of electrodes in the anode-centered group. In addition, rats receiving no electrical stimulation were used as the control group. Results showed that the absolute value of the injury potentials acquired after 30 minutes of electrical stimulation was higher than the control group rats and much lower than the initial absolute value, whether the anodes or the cathodes were placed at the site of injury. This phenomenon il ustrates that by changing the polarity of the electrical field, electrical stimulation can effectively modulate the injury potentials in rats after spinal cord injury. This is also beneficial for the spontaneous repair of the cel membrane and the reduction of cation influx.

Injury potentials associated with severity of acute spinal cord injury in an experimental rat model

To investigate characteristics of injury potentials after different degrees of spinal cord injury in rats the present study established models of spinal cord contusion with severe, moderate, and mild degrees of injury. Injury potential was measured in vivo using a direct current voltage amplification system. Results revealed that in the first 4 hours after acute spinal cord injury, initial amplitude of injury potential was greatest after severe injury, followed by moderate and mild injuries. Amplitude of injury potential decreased gradually with injury time, and the recession curve was logarithmic. Under the same degree of injuries, amplitude of rostral injury potential was generally less than caudal injury potential. Results suggested that injury potential reflected injury severity, because large initial amplitude of injury potential during the early injury stage implied severe injury.