The efficacy of alpha-tocopherol in functional recovery of spinal cord injured rats: an experimental study

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the effects of the alpha-tocopherol on rats with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Research Center, Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Method: Female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 180-220 g were anesthetized with chloral hydrate (450 mg kg À1 body weight) by intraperitoneal injection and laminectomy was performed at the T 7-8 level leaving the dura intact. A compression plate (2.2 Â 5.0 mm) was loaded with a weight of 35 g placed on the exposed cord for 5 min to create SCI. The subjects were divided into three groups of eight rats each. Group 1 served as control (SCI þ saline); whereas groups 2 and 3 served as test groups, alpha-tocopherol was given orally in doses of 1000 mg kg À1 body weight for group 2 and 2000 mg kg À1body weight for group 3, respectively. Daily activities were recorded in the activity cage for 14 days post-operatively. Results: At day 1 (baseline, 24 h after the surgery), there was no significant difference between mean motor scores of all groups. After day 1, the three groups showed continuous improvement in motor score; such improvement was maintained throughout the duration of the study with different levels for each group. By the end of the study (day 14), groups 2 and 3 showed statistically significant improvement in the mean motor score compared with group 1 (Po0.05). However, no significant difference was observed between test groups 2 and 3 by the end of the study. Conclusion:The results suggest that the administration of alpha-tocopherol may have reparative effects for SCI because of its antioxidant effect.

The efficacy of antioxidants in functional recovery of spinal cord injured rats: an experimental study

“…This is in accordance with earlier studies which reported that SCI reduced the body weight of the animals. This is partly due to the great stress exerted on the body at the time of the initial trauma and the body's metabolism works faster in order to provide energy and nutrients to help in healing the body and fight infections which resulted in the decrease of the weight of the animals [18,[23][24][25].…”

“…The motor disturbance induced by spinal cord injury was greatly reduced by alpha tocopherol supplementation [18,27]. After injury, the spinal cord evoked potentials that showed greater recovery of both amplitude and latency in the alpha tocopherolsupplemented animals [27].…”

“…A compression plate (2.2 9 5.0 mm) loaded with a weight of 35 g was placed on the exposed cord for 5 min in order to create partial SCI [18]. Animals were divided into three groups of ten rats each with similar functional activity.…”

Targeting Mitochondrial Function for the Treatment of Acute Spinal Cord Injury

“…reported in a more recent study using postinjury alphatocopherol treatment in a rat model of spinal cord compression [62]. Based on its demonstrated lipid peroxyl scavenging activity, the improvement in functional recovery was associated with a decrease in the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde [63].…”

Mitochondrial-Based Therapeutics for the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury: Mitochondrial Biogenesis as a Potential Pharmacological Target

“…a-Tocopherol is a naturally occurring form of vitamin E, which can scavenge lipid peroxyl radicals and has been shown to improve recovery and decrease LP after SCI (Anderson et al, 1988;Bozbu ga et al, 1998;Al Jadid et al, 2009;Morsy et al, 2010;Morsy and Bashir, 2013). Unfortunately, this process is 1:1 and the radical form of vitamin E is produced after scavenging, which has no antioxidant properties.…”