Dipsacus asperoides (Xue Duan) inhibits spinal cord injury-induced inflammatory responses in rats

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Dipsacus asperoides (Xue Duan), a traditional Chinese medicine, on rats with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Methods: In this study a total of 40 adult rats were used after inducing SCI where Xue Duan was applied on experimental group and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was administered in corresponding control groups. Intraperitoneal administration of both compounds for a period of four weeks (28 days) was carried out at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day. Bright field microscopy was performed on the tissues.
Results: Bright Field microscopy of tissue sections showed significant reduction in cavity area that resulted from injury, that is from 0.19 ± 0.05 mm² to 0.09 ± 0.03 mm² (p < 0.01) in untreated and treated groups respectively. Similarly western blotting results showed a decrease in the expression of NF-kB p65 and I-kBα (p < 0.01). These two compounds are important in increasing secondary pathophysiology in SCI. The results for MPO activity also revealed significantly reduced infiltration of leukocytes to the injury site (p < 0.01).
Conclusion: This study reveals the positive effect of the plant material in reducing inflammation in rats with traumatic SCI.

Keywords
IKK/NF-kB pathway; Spinal cord injury; Xue Duan; MPO activity; Inflammation; Dipsacus asperoides