A Review of the Therapeutic Effect of Natural Antioxidants on Spinal Cord Injury by Focusing on Experimental Studies

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition associated with a sudden loss of sensory, motor, and autonomic function. Despite significant advances in medical and surgical care, there is no effective treatment for its neurological deficits, which can be partly due to the highly complex pathophysiological mechanisms involved in SCI. Inflammatory cascade and overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are secondary events of injury. Reducing the level of ROS with the help of antioxidants seems to be one of the alternative therapies to reduce oxidative stress. This study aims to review the effect of four natural and strong antioxidants (astaxanthin, saffron and its active ingredients, curcumin, and resveratrol) in spinal cord injuries research studies.

Methods and Materials: 

The present study was reviewed 77 scientific articles and the results were extracted from them. The articles have been searched in international databases using oxidative stress, antioxidant, herbal medicine, spinal cord injury, resveratrol, curcumin, saffron, and astaxanthin keywords, with an emphasis on neuroprotective mechanisms caused by them, mainly between the years of 2010 and 2022.

Oxidative stress and inflammation play an important role in the pathophysiology of SCI. Inhibition of oxidative invasion can significantly reduce the occurrence of inflammation, infection, apoptosis, and dysfunction. Therefore, it seems that adjunctive treatment with potent antioxidants can improve the outcome for spinal cord injury patients.

The use of natural antioxidants can be an important section of future research in the field of SCI treatment. Continuing studies on bioactive compounds with the capacity to inhibit ROS may lead to the development of effective methods based on antioxidant treatment in human studies of SCI.