Protective Effect of Catechin Hydrate on Spinal Cord Ischemia-reperfusion Injury in Rats

Aortic artery stenosis leads to Ischemia-Reperfusion (I-R) injury, which can cause certain clinical expressions, such as paraplegia.

To appraise the effect of Catechin Hydrate (CH) against spinal cord I-R injury.

A total of 35 male rats (250-300 g) were divided randomly into five groups:  intact, sham surgery, dimethyl sulfoxide (I-R+DMSO), low-dose CH (I-R+10 mg/kg CH), and high-dose CH (I-R+20 mg/kg CH). Abdominal aorta clamping was done for 60 min. Seventy-two hours after I-R, animals were evaluated for neurologic function, biochemical analysis, and histology. The data analysis was conducted by SPSS v. 16 using ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests.

The mean Motor Deficit Index (MDI) score and white matter damage in the CH (20 mg/kg) group were lower than in the DMSO group (P=0.032). The mean plasma levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the CH groups were lower than that of the DMSO group (P<0.05). The plasma level of Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) in the CH (20 mg/kg) group was higher than in the DMSO group (P=0.032). In addition, the plasma level of catalase in the CH (20 mg/kg) group was higher than in the DMSO and CH (10 mg/kg) groups (P<0.001). The average number of normal motor neurons in the experimental groups was lower than in the sham surgery group (P<0.001). 

These results showed that CH may be effective in reducing spinal cord I-R injury.