Changes of Neurofilament and Glial Fibrillary Acid Protein Following Ischemic Injury of Spinal Cord in Rats

Aim To study the changes of neurofilament (NF) and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) and their pathological significance following ischemia of rat spinal cord. Methods Qualitative and quantitative changes of NF with immunohistochemical staining and the number of glial cells in ischemic spinal cord were studied by the monoclonal antibodies of NF68 and GFAP with immunohistochemistry and image analysis after occlusion of peritoneal aorta of rats for 30 minutes. Results Statistic data indicated that change of NF68 was not obvious at 1 day after spinal cord injury, obviously decreased at 3 days, reached the lowest value between 7 to 21 days, and basically reached the control level at 28 days. The changes of the number of glial cells were not obvious at 1, 3 and 7 days compared with the normal level, but increased significantly at 14 days. It increased with time and reached peak at 28 days. Conclusions The similarity of NF changes between spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury shows there is probable diffuse axonal injury in spinal cord injury. And the glial cells growth is probably helpful for the repair of spinal cord injury.