Dexmedetomidine postconditioning alleviates spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats via inhibiting neutrophil infiltration, microglia activation, reactive gliosis and CXCL13/CXCR5 axis activation

Spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is an unresolved complication and its mechanisms are still not completely understood. Here, we studied the neuroprotective effects of dexmedetomidine (DEX) postconditioning against spinal cord I/R injury in rats and explored the possible mechanisms.In the study, rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham group, I/R group, DEX0.5 group, DEX2.5 group, and DEX5 group. I/R injury was induced in experimental rats; 0.5 μg/kg, 2.5 μg/kg, 5 μg/kg DEX were intravenously injected upon reperfusion respectively. Neurological function, histological assessment, and the disruption of blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) were evaluated via the BBB scoring, hematoxylin and eosin staining, Evans Blue (EB) extravasation and spinal cord edema, respectively. Neutrophil infiltration was evaluated via Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. Microglia activation and reactive gliosis was evaluated via ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule-1(IBA-1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunofluorescence, respectively. The expression of C-X-C motif ligand 13 (CXCL13), C-X-C chemokine receptor type 5(CXCR5), caspase-3 was determined by western blotting. The expression levels of interleukin 6(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), IL-1β were determined by ELISA assay.DEX postconditioning preserved neurological assessment scores, improved histological assessment scores, attenuated BSCB leakage after spinal cord I/R injury. Neutrophil infiltration, microglia activation and reactive gliosis were also inhibited by DEX postconditioning. The expression of CXCL13, CXCR5, caspase-3, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β were reduced by DEX postconditioning.DEX postconditioning alleviated spinal cord I/R injury, which might be mediated via inhibition of neutrophil infiltration, microglia activation, reactive gliosis and CXCL13/CXCR5 axis activation.