Effects of STAT3 inhibitors on neural functional recovery after spinal cord injury in rats

Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) can induce primary and secondary injury, resulting in severe neurological damage and dysfunction in patients. Studies have reported that signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) plays an important role in the inflammatory immune response and neural stem cell differentiation. In order to examine whether a STAT3 inhibitor can prevent worsening of an SCI and promote neural stem cell differentiation, a rat model of surgically induced SCI was created and rats were treated with the STAT3 inhibitor S31-201. Tissue from the injured region was harvested and fixed in formalin and paraffin. H&E staining was used to look for morphological changes. The Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotor scale (BBB score), somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP), and motor evoked potentials (MEP) were examined. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of beta-tubulin., vimentin, GFAP, NF-200, and OX-42 protein. Results indicated that the STAT3 inhibitor S31-201 reduces the extent of SCI and it promotes neural stem cell differentiation.