Objective    To study the effect of curcumin on tissue morphology and behavior after spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats.     Methods    With random number tables

seventy-two female

Wistar rats were divided into six groups: a SCI group

a curcumin pretreatment group (30 min before SCI

300 mg/kg

i.p.)

three curcumin treatment groups including high-dose (300 mg/kg

i.p.)

medium-dose (100 mg/kg

i.p.)

and low-dose (30 mg/kg

i.p.) groups

and a methylprednisolone (MP) treatment group (30 mg/kg

i.v.). Rats in each group underwent SCI operation through clamping T

9-10

thoracic spinal cords with 50-gram-force aneurysm clips for 1 min

and received drugs according to a preset schedule. Rats were sacrificed in two and eight weeks after SCI operation to observe the changes of spinal cord tissue morphology with HE staining. The Basso

Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale and inclined plane test were used to evaluate rat behavioral consequences after SCI at the time points of 1 day and every week (up till 8 weeks) after SCI.     Results    HE staining results demonstrated that after 8 weeks

the tissue cavity areas of curcumin treatment groups (high-dose 30.07±8.75

medium-dose 68.40±12.90

and low-dose 87.67±11.49) were significantly smaller than those of SCI group (150.28±27.31) and MP treatment group (109.78±16.5). Curcumin pretreatment group also exhibited a smaller tissue cavity area (125.57±18.35) than SCI group (

P

<

0.05). The behavioral function results were consistent with the morphological results. BBB scores of rats in all groups showed gradual motor function recovery from complete hind limb paralysis caused by SCI. The inclined plane test scores showed that the behavioral function of rats in curcumin treatment groups (2 weeks after SCI

high-dose 32.50±2.74

medium-dose 30.83±2.04

and low-dose 28.33±4.08; 8 weeks after SCI

high-dose 61.67±5.16

medium-dose 57.50±2.74

and low-dose 55.00±3.16) were significantly better than that in SCI group (2 weeks after SCI

27.50±2.73; 8 weeks after SCI

38.33±2.58) and MP treatment group (2 weeks after SCI

30.00±3.16; 8 weeks after SCI

49.17±3.76). High-dose curcumin treatment group had the best behavioral fu

nction. Four

six

and eight weeks after SCI

curcumin pretreatment group (4 weeks after SCI

33.33±2.58; 6 weeks after SCI

37.50±2.74; 8 weeks after SCI

44.17±2.04) exhibited better behavioral function than SCI group.     Conclusion    Curcumin can promote hind limb motor function recovery by reducing tissue cavity area after SCI.