Triptolide improves locomotor function after spinal cord injury (SCI) inrats

In this study a possible therapeutic effect of Triptolide (TPL) was explored on SCI rats. A dose of 5 mg/kg/day was administered intraperitoneally and control groups were given PBS in the same amount at the same time interval in rats. A total of three main groups (n=20 each) were used and each group was divided in four sub-groups (n=5 each). Rats in all sub-groups were treated for a period of one week. Possible effect of TPL on IKK/NF-kB pathway was studied and levels of Bax and Bcl-2 evaluated. Activated caspase-3 level was tested in all the groups while TUNEL staining for the presence of apoptotic cells was also performed. Statistical analysis was performed in all experiments where one way ANOVA was used and a P < 0.05 was considered significant. Presence of a less number of apoptotic cells and lower levels of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 showed positive effect of the use of TPL on SCI rats. Elevated levels and statistically significant difference of the amount of proapoptotic protein Bax and activated caspase-3 was observed in untreated group as compared to treated and control groups. These results led to a conclusion that a dose of 5 mg/kg/day TPL injected intraperitoneally has a neuroprotective effect on SCI rats.