Effect of oxymatrine on heat shock protein 47 expression in rat acute spinal cord injury

Objective To discuss the therapeutic mechanism of oxymatrine in rat acute spinal cord injury(SCI).Methods A model of clip-compression injury of spinal cord in rats was used.30 Wistar rats were divided to normal group,sham operation group,SCI group,control group and therapeutic group randomly.Basso,Beattie,Bresnahan(BBB) Locomotor Rating Scale were assessed at third day and every week after SCI.They were sacrificed to study the expression level of heat shock protein 47(HSP47) using immunohistochemistry technique at eighth week.Results There was a lower expression level of glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP) and HSP47 in normal group and sham operation group,while the level of neurofilament protein(NF) was higher.But,the expression level of GFAP and HSP47 after SCI was higher(P0.05),while the level of NF was lower(P0.05).The expression level of GFAP and HSP47 in therapeutic group was lower(P0.05),while the level of NF was higher(P0.05).Conclusions SCI in Wistar rats can be treated with oxymatrine.It probably suppresses the expression of HSP47.