Hesperidin improves motor disability in rat spinal cord injury through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanism via Nrf-2/HO-1 pathway

Publication date: Available online 9 November 2019Source: Neuroscience LettersAuthor(s): Seung-Dam Heo, Jeongtae Kim, Yuna Choi, Poornima Ekanayake, Meejung Ahn, Taekyun ShinAbstractSpinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with inflammation with concurrent oxidative stress and glial activation. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether hesperidin, a representative flavonoid in citrus fruits, ameliorates SCI-induced motor dysfunction and neuro-pathologic degeneration in rat model. Rats received hesperidin (100 mg/kg body weight/daily, oral administration) from 7 days prior to SCI to 7 days post SCI. Behavioral test was done on rats with SCI until 6 weeks. For the study of inflammatory molecules in SCI rats with hesperidin treatment, rats were sacrificed at day 4 post SCI, and spinal cords were collected and studied histopathologically. Behavioral tests on hind-limbs of rats with SCI revealed that treatment of hesperidin in rats with SCI significantly ameliorate the hind-limb paralysis beginning at day 21 post SCI. Hesperidin treatment in rats with SCI reduced the neuropathological changes (e.g., hemorrhage, inflammatory cell infiltration, and tissue loss) and pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrotic factor-α and interleukin-1β. In addition, oxidative stress related molecules including superoxide dismutase, catalase, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 and heme oxygenase-1 were also increased by hesperidin treatment. Furthermore, Fe2+, bilirubin and p38...
Source: Neuroscience Letters - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research