Salvianolic Acid B Ameliorates Motor Dysfuntion in Spinal Cord Injury Rats

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of salvianolic acid B (Sal B) treatment on the motor function of spinal cord injury (SCI) rat.
Methods: SCI rats were modelled by contusion, and then received 10 mg/kg Sal B, or methylprednisolone, or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) intraperitoneally daily for 4 weeks, two hours after the trauma occurred. During the treatment, footprint analysis (FA), inclined plane test (IPT), Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) rating and Schnell Swim Test (SST) were used for estimating the recovery of motor function. At the same time, tissue edema was measured by wet-dry weighting, and the secretion of cytokines were indirectly quantitated by real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
Results: Primarily, Sal B group rats scored higher by FA, IPT and BBB rating. Further statistical analysis of comprehensive SST data from Student-t test indicates that Sal B can significantly ameliorate motor dysfunction after a 4-week treatment (p < 0.05) as well. Furthermore, Sal B decreased water content of the edema by 16.5 % during the first week, and sharply downregulated the transcription of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) 28- and 16-fold, respectively.
Conclusion: The beneficial effect of motor function recovery was observed in SCI rats following intraperitoneal administration of Sal B.