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. 2017 Jul;12(7):1166-1171.
doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.211198.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 overexpression inhibits neuronal apoptosis after spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury

Xing-Zhen Liu  1 , Xin Sun  1 , Kang-Ping Shen  1 , Wen-Jie Jin  1 , Zhi-Yi Fu  1 , Hai-Rong Tao  1 , Zhi-Xing Xu  1
Affiliations

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 overexpression inhibits neuronal apoptosis after spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury

Xing-Zhen Liu et al. Neural Regen Res. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is an important factor in inhibiting oxidative stress and has been shown to protect against renal ischemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, we hypothesized that ALDH2 could reduce spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury. Spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury was induced in rats using the modified Zivin's method of clamping the abdominal aorta. After successful model establishment, the agonist group was administered a daily consumption of 2.5% alcohol. At 7 days post-surgery, the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan score significantly increased in the agonist group compared with the spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury group. ALDH2 expression also significantly increased and the number of apoptotic cells significantly decreased in the agonist group than in the spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury group. Correlation analysis revealed that ALDH2 expression negatively correlated with the percentage of TUNEL-positive cells (r = -0.485, P < 0.01). In summary, increased ALDH2 expression protected the rat spinal cord against ischemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting apoptosis.

Keywords: alcohol; aldehyde dehydrogenase 2; apoptosis; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; oxidative stress; spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury; terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
BBB scores in rats at 7 days after surgery. *P < 0.05, vs. sham group, #P < 0.05, vs. I/R group (mean ± SD, n = 10, one-way analysis of variance and Student-Newman-Keuls test). BBB: Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan; I/R: ischemia/reperfusion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 overexpression affected histomorphology in rats with spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury (hematoxylin-eosin staining, ×200). Sham group: Normal spinal cord tissues; I/R group: serious damage; agonist group: mild damage. Arrows refer to injured cells. I/R: Ischemia/reperfusion.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Protein expression in the spinal cord of ALDH2 in the sham, I/R, and agonist groups (western blot assay). Protein expression of ALDH2 in the agonist group significantly increased compared with the I/R group. *P < 0.05, vs. sham group, #P < 0.05, vs. I/R group (mean ± SD, n = 10, one-way analysis of variance and Student-Newman-Keuls test). ALDH2: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2; I/R: ischemia/reperfusion; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase.
Figure 4
Figure 4
ALDH2 overexpression affected apoptosis in rats with spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury (TUNEL assay, × 400). Sham group: Few TUNEL-positive cells; I/R group: many TUNEL-positive cells (arrows) compared with the agonist group. *P < 0.05, vs. sham group; #P < 0.05, vs. I/R group (mean ± SD, n = 10, one-way analysis of variance and Student-Newman-Keuls test). ALDH2: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2; I/R: ischemia/reperfusion; TUNEL: terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling.
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