RS-Glucoraphanin bioactivated with myrosinase treatment counteracts proinflammatory cascade and apoptosis associated to spinal cord injury in an experimental mouse model

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a highly debilitating pathology. Although innovative medical care has been improved, drug therapies to counteract neuronal damage and promote regeneration are limited. An experimental mouse model of SCI was designed to examine the possible neuroprotective role of the glucosinolate (R_S)-glucoraphanin (R_S-GRA), bioactivated with myrosinase enzyme (MYR-activated R_S-GRA). Methodologically, the injury was induced by application of an aneurysm clip (force of 24g) for 1 min via four-level T5-T8 after laminectomy. MYR-activated R_S-GRA was administered in mice (10 mg/kg i.p.) 1 and 6 h after the trauma, identified as the therapeutic intervention window. The treatment with MYR-activated R _S-GRA significantly decreased histological damage resulted by proinflammatory events as well as by apoptosis cascade. Overall, by quantitative analysis of immunohistochemical images, the neuroprotection has been quite evident. MYR-activated R_S-GRA has given a histological quantification around zero in all determinations. Particularly, looking at the strongest data obtained, regarding the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), result the high tissue localization of this damage marker mediated by astrocyte activity, estimated as about 80% of positive staining, was shot down by MYR-activated R_S-GRA treatment. Taken together, our results show that MYR-activated R_S-GRA could represent an interesting approach for the management of secondary damage following SCI.