Protective effects of Batroxobin on spinal cord injury in rats

Expansion of the secondary injury following primary spinal cord injury is a major pathological event that increases destruction in the spinal cord, so measures to reduce secondary injury are needed. Our previous study demonstrated that, at the front of the expanding secondary injury in the spinal cord, there is an ischemic area in which many neurons can still be rescued. Therefore, enhancement of blood circulation in the cord may be helpful, and indeed, we found that a traditional Chinese medicine, shu-xue-tong, efficiently reduces the secondary injury. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of reducing fibrinogen with Batroxobin, a drug widely used clinically for ischemia, in rats with spinal cord contusion. We found that both 2 and 4 Batroxobin units (BU)/kg efficiently decreased the plasma fibrinogen, and 2 BU/kg significantly increased spinal blood flow, enhanced neuronal survival, mitigated astrocyte and microglia activation, and improved locomotor recovery. However, 4 BU/kg had no effect on the secondary spinal cord injury. These data suggest that Batroxobin has multiple beneficial effects on spinal cord injury, indicating a potential clinical application.