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Following the initial acute stage of spinal cord injury, a cascade of cellular and inflammatory responses will lead to progressive secondary damage of the nerve tissue surrounding the primary injury site. The degeneration is manifested by loss of neurons and glial cells, demyelination and cyst formation. Injury to the mammalian spinal cord results in nearly complete failure of the severed axons to regenerate. We have previously demonstrated that the antioxidants N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) and acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) can attenuate retrograde neuronal degeneration after peripheral nerve and ventral root injury. The present study evaluates the effects of NAC and ALC on neuronal survival, axonal sprouting and glial cell reactions after spinal cord injury in adult rats. Tibial motoneurons in the spinal cord were pre-labeled with fluorescent tracer Fast Blue one week before lumbar L5 hemisection. Continuous intrathecal infusion of NAC (2.4 mg/day) or ALC (0.9 mg/day) was initiated immediately after spinal injury using Alzet 2002 osmotic minipumps. Neuroprotective effects of treatment were assessed by counting surviving motoneurons and by using quantitative immunohistochemistry and Western blotting for neuronal and glial cell markers 4 weeks after hemisection. Spinal cord injury induced significant loss of tibial motoneurons in L4-L6 segments. Neuronal degeneration was associated with decreased immunostaining for microtubular-associated protein-2 (MAP2) in dendritic branches, synaptophysin in presynaptic boutons and neurofilaments in nerve fibers. Immunostaining for the astroglial marker GFAP and microglial marker OX42 was increased. Treatment with NAC and ALC rescued approximately half of the motoneurons destined to die. In addition, antioxidants restored MAP2 and synaptophysin immunoreactivity. However, the perineuronal synaptophysin labeling was not recovered. Although both treatments promoted axonal sprouting, there was no effect on reactive astrocytes. In contrast, the microglial reaction was significantly attenuated. The results indicate a therapeutic potential for NAC and ALC in the early treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury.

Traumatic spinal cord injury induces a long-standing inflammatory response in the spinal cord tissue, leading to a progressive apoptotic death of spinal cord neurons and glial cells. We have recently demonstrated that immediate treatment with the antioxidants N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) and acetyl-l-carnitine (ALC) attenuates neuroinflammation, induces axonal sprouting, and reduces the death of motoneurons in the vicinity of the trauma zone 4weeks after initial trauma. The objective of the current study was to investigate the effects of long-term antioxidant treatment on the survival of descending rubrospinal neurons after spinal cord injury in rats. It also examines the short- and long-term effects of treatment on apoptosis, inflammation, and regeneration in the spinal cord trauma zone. Spinal cord hemisection performed at the level C3 induced a significant loss of rubrospinal neurons 8weeks after injury. At 2weeks, an increase in the expression of the apoptosis-associated markers BCL-2-associated X protein (BAX) and caspase 3, as well as the microglial cell markers OX42 and ectodermal dysplasia 1 (ED1), was seen in the trauma zone. After 8weeks, an increase in immunostaining for OX42 and the serotonin marker 5HT was detected in the same area. Antioxidant therapy reduced the loss of rubrospinal neurons by approximately 50%. Treatment also decreased the expression of BAX, caspase 3, OX42 and ED1 after 2weeks. After 8weeks, treatment decreased immunoreactivity for OX42, whereas it was increased for 5HT. In conclusion, this study provides further insight in the effects of treatment with NAC and ALC on descending pathways, as well as short- and long-term effects on the spinal cord trauma zone.

Brachial plexus injury (BPI) is a devastating type of nerve injury, potentially causing loss of motor and sensory function. Principally, BPI is either categorized as preganglionic or post- ganglionic, with the early establishment of injury level being crucial for choosing the correct treatment strategy. Despite diagnostic advances, the need for a reliable, non-invasive method for establishing the injury level remains. We studied the usefulness of in vivo mag- netic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spinal cord for determination of injury level. The find- ings were related to neuronal and glial changes. Rats underwent unilateral L4 & L5 ventral roots avulsion or sciatic nerve axotomy. The injuries served as models for pre- and postgan- glionic BPI, respectively. MRI of the L4/L5 spinal cord segments 4 weeks after avulsion showed ventral horn (VH) shrinkage on the injured side compared to the uninjured side. Axotomy induced no change in the VH size on MRI. Following avulsion, histological sections of L4/L5 revealed shrinkage in the VH grey matter area occupied by NeuN-positive neurons, loss of microtubular-associated protein-2 positive dendritic branches (MAP2), pan-neurofila- ment positive axons (PanNF), synaptophysin-positive synapses (SYN) and increase in immunoreactivity for the microglial OX42 and astroglial GFAP markers. Axotomy induced no changes in NeuN-reactivity, modest decrease of MAP2 immunoreactivity, no changes in SYN and PanNF labelling, and a modest increase in OX42 and SYN labeling. Histological and radiological findings were congruent when assessing changes after axotomy, while MRI somewhat underestimated the shrinkage. This study indicates a potential diagnostic value of structural spinal cord MRI following BPI.