| Objective: Spinal cord injury(SCI) can be one type of serious disease in the central nervous system that usually results in disability. Spinal cord injury during traffic accidents, industrial and mining accidents or sporting accidents is the common cause of paraplegia, which may significantly impact the afflicted individual's health both physically and mentally. Based on methylprednisolone, the therapeutic agent currently available for spinal cord injury along with the traditional Chinese medicine theory, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of combination of methylprednisolone with electroacupuncture on spinal cord-injured Rats. Nowadays, there has been no demonstration of major breakthrough in modern medicine in terms of medication or operative treatment on SCI. While spinal cord injury falls into the categories of"dispirited disease","lazy body"etc. in traditional Chinese medicine, therefore, it is more likely to help the patients to achieve recovery in varying degrees by the aid of the traditional Chinese medical treatments. The clinical application of acupuncture, as a traditional form of treatment, has been successful with marked curative effect. It is characterized by"simple, convenience, effectiveness and cheapness". In addition, it has become an essential means in the process of rehabilitation after spinal cord injury. The present study primarily expounds the mechanism of the function recovery in the injured cord, and it offers more effective theoretical and empirical evidence for the clinical treatments concerning spinal cord injury and degeneration of the nervous system. Meanwhile, it may provide new approaches for the clinical treatment of spinal cord injury.Methods: Spinal cord injury model was induced in Wistar male rats(250～300g) by falling heavy object towards the back. Rats were divided into four groups:①the control group②the group which only received the treatment of methylprednisolone③the group which only received the treatment of electroacupuncture④the group which received the combination of methylprednisolone with electroacupuncture. In each group there were twenty rats. The pathological histology examination was later performed: The morphological changes and the grading of rats behavioral ability were observed in the vertical section of the injured spinal cord by HE staining. The BBB score(21grades) modified by Basso was also employed to observe the function recovery of rats. Results: HE staining revealed that the combination of methylprednisolone and electroacupuncture was most therapeutically effective for spinal cord injury. There had been comparatively small number of tissue fragments and detritus resulting from necrosis and disintegration of tissue. The vacuolation had diminished. And there could have been relatively less colloid cicatrice, the levels were distinctly lowered as well. A great number of nerve cells appeared, the tissue morphology kept intact and was lined up in order. Therefore, the group which received combination of methylprednisolone and electroacupuncture should be superior to the control group and the groups receiving other treatments. BBB score showed that the function of double hind limbs of the control group did not change strikingly. The function recovery of rats from the group receiving the treatment of methylprednisolone and the group receiving the treatment of electroacupuncture respectively improved to some degree. While double hind limbs function recovery of the group receiving combination of methylprednisolone and electroacupuncture was promoted remarkably.Conclusion: The combination of methylprednisolone and electroacupuncture is most therapeutically effective for spinal cord injury. It is superior to the control group and the groups receiving other treatments with simply one method. This suggests that the combination of methylprednisolone and electroacupuncture works fairly well on the recovery from spinal cord injury. This study could have brought about a new train of thoughts for the empirical research on the treatment of spinal cord injury. Besides, it may provide theoretical basis and empirical evidence for the clinical treatments concerning spinal cord injury. |
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