The effect of recombinant human erythropoietin on the expression of NF-κB in acute spinal cord injury rat

Objective To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in acute spinal cord injury rat after recombinant human erythropoietin(rHuEPO)was injected.Methods The spinal cord injury was induced with Nystrom's way.The healthy adult Wistar rats(72) were randomly divided into normal control group,spinal cord injury group,recombinant human erythropoietin treated group on average.The expression of VEGF was observed by immunochemistry and Western blot methods in all groups.Results The mean optic density(MOD) of VEGF positive product increased significantly in acute spinal cord injury group than in normal control(0.01),and increased in the recombinant human erythropoietin treated group than in acute spinal cord injury group(0.01) by immunochemistry.The integrated density value(IDV) for VEGF protein band increased significantly in the spinal cord injury group than in normal control( 0.01),and increased in recombinant human erythropoietin group than in spinal cord injury group(0.01) by Western blot.Conclusion The involvement of recombinant human erythropoietin in the recovery of acute spinal cord injury might be related to the upregulation of the expression of VEGF.