Phenobarbital administered alone or in combination with dapsone inhibits apoptosis and improves motor function after spinal cord injury in rats

Abstract

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a health problem that affects the working age population (20-45 years) and there is no effective treatment. Our group has demonstrated that phenobarbital (FB) and dapsone (DDS) have neuroprotective effects in models of stroke and excitotoxicity. Objective: to evaluate the therapeutic effect of FB administered alone or in combination with DDS during the acute stage after SCI by measuring the activity of Caspase3 and motor functional recovery. Material and methods: female rats (250 g) were used, the groups were: laminectomy (control), SCI, treated with FB or DDS, alone or in combination, and all them sacrificed 72 h after surgery to measure the activity of caspase-3, motor recovery was evaluated for 2 months. Results: the values of caspase-3 activities showed an increase by effect of lesion and were diminished in all animals that received treatments administered alone or in combination. Likewise, animals treated with FB alone or in combination with DDS had the best functional performance, being the most effective the combined therapy with an increase of 135% over the lesion group. Conclusions: the results obtained demonstrated that both drugs provide therapeutic benefits by reducing apoptosis and promoting functional recovery of the animals. Therefore, the findings of this study may have value as an effective pharmacological strategy in clinical practice.