Expression of nestin in spinal cord after spinal cord injury in rat

Objective To investigate the expression of nestin and its potiential effect after spinal cord injury(SCI) in rats. Methods Thirty female Wister rats were randomly divided into two groups:the control group(Group A) and the group with spinal cord injury by Allen’s weight drop (25g·cm) on T10 (Group B ). Nestin in spinal cord was analyzed by its immunoreactivity at 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after injury. Each time 6 rats were killed and spinal cord tissue samples both rostral and caudal 5mm to the injury centre were detected. Results Nestin expression was hardly observed in ependymal cells and white matter in group A. In group B at 24 h post-injury, nestin expression was observed in ependymal cells and pial surface, and the peak was occurred at 1 week after injury(P0.05). Moreover, nestin expression was also observed in the white matter and gray matter. At 4 weeks after injury,nestin expression in ependyma decreased, and hardly detected at 8 weeks. Conclusion The result indicated that the progenitor cells which were actived after SCI in rat may exist in many regions of the spinal cord, and might play important role in functional reconstruction in spinal cord after injury.