Investigation of the effects of neuroprotective erythropoetine on heme oxygenase 1 and nitric oxide syntase enzymes in rats with acute spinal cord injury

Primary injury in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) occurs at the time of trauma that arises from tissue trauma and cell death. Secondary injury is the result of death cascade caused by the activation of endogenous cell death paths. Experimental studies and clinical observations show that spinal cord lesions expand by means of secondary injury mechanisms. We aimed to show that intraperitoneal administration of EPO has neural protection by its effects on HO-1 and NOS enzymes in experimental SCI models using clip compression in light of the ongoing knowledge. 33 adult, female Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups in our study. They were anaesthetised by etil carbamate using 1.2-1.4 gr/kg. After spinal cord ischemia was performed following laminectomy at the levels of thoracal 6 ? 10, compression was administered for 3 minutes with a clip of 11 milimeters and 70 gr closing pressure. Sham group only received laminectomy, in ischemia group no pharmalogical agents were administered after laminectomy. At the beginning of reperfusion, 5000 U/kg IP EPO was given to group Erithropoetine and 30 mg/kg IP MP was given to group Metile Prednisolone and spinal cord sampling was performed after 2 hours. Samples were evaluated pathologically by means of light microscopy, Heme Oxygenase 1 and levels were investigated biochemically. Heme Oxygenase 1 activity was significantly high in Group I with respect to Group S, whereas its activity was not significantly different between Group S, Group M and Group E. For the levels of Nitrit/nitrate, no significant differences were seen between the groups. As a result, we concluded that neuroprotective effects of EPO does not rely on Nitric Oxide Syntase and Heme Oxygenase 1 pathways. But we believe that advanced studies should be performed and studies on molecular levels would be appropriate to enlighten the effects occuring on the basis of neoronal cell.