Investigation of the neuroprotective effect of kefir in experimental spinal cord injury

Abstract

In this study, the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of kefir were investigated in spinal cord injury that was experimentally created on rats with compression trauma model. A total of 56 Wistar-Albino male rats were used in the study. Rats were divided into seven groups with 8 rats in each group randomly. The animals were given freshly prepared kefir 18 ml/kg/day orally for 7 days before the trauma and during the trauma. Spinal cord injury was created according to the weight drop method. While animals were under general anesthesia on the 1st and 7th days before euthanasia, intracardiac blood was collected for analysis and then they were sacrificed. After sacrification, tissue sections were taken from the damaged spinal cord segment for tissue analysis. The samples were examined biochemically, immunohistochemically and histopathologically. When compared to the sham groups, kefir had a positive effect in preconditioning and treatment groups by decreasing spinal cord bleeding, edema, myelin sheath damage, liquefactive necrosis, neuronal necrosis, selectivity of canalis centralis and gitter cell levels significantly. When compared to the sham groups, kefir was found to have a positive effect in treatment groups by decreasing the neuron specific enolase (NSE), ionized calcium binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA-1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (INOS), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) and myelin basic protein (MBP) levels significantly on the 1st and 7th days, and by increasing the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) level significantly. As a result, it was demonstrated that kefir had a protective and therapeutic effect on spinal cord injury.