Basic fibroblast growth factor attenuates the degeneration of injured spinal cord motor endplates

The distal end of the spinal cord and neuromuscular junction may develop secondary degeneration and damage following spinal cord injury because of the loss of neural connections. In this study, a rat model of spinal cord injury, established using a modified Allen’s method, was injected with basic fibroblast growth factor solution via subarachnoid catheter. After injection, rats with spinal cord injury displayed higher scores on the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan locomotor scale. Motor function was also well recovered and hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that spinal glial scar hyperplasia was not apparent. Additionally, anterior tibial muscle fibers slowly, but progressively, atrophied. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the absorbance values of calcitonin gene related peptide and acetylcholinesterase in anterior tibial muscle and spinal cord were similar, and injection of basic fibroblast growth factor increased this absorbance. Results showed that after spinal cord injury, the distal motor neurons and motor endplate degenerated. Changes in calcitonin gene related peptide and acetylcholinesterase in the spinal cord anterior horn motor neurons and motor endplate then occurred that were consistent with this regeneration. Our findings indicate that basic fibroblast growth factor can protect the endplate through attenuating the decreased expression of calcitonin gene related peptide and acetylcholinesterase in anterior horn motor neurons of the injured spinal cord.