Borax Partially Prevents Neurologic Disability and Oxidative Stress in Experimental Spinal Cord Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the potential effects of borax on ischemia/reperfusion injury of the rat spinal cord. Methods Twenty-one Wistar albino rats were divided into 3 groups: sham (no ischemia/reperfusion), ischemia/reperfusion, and borax (ischemia/reperfusion + borax); each group was consist of 7 animals. Infrarenal aortic cross clamp was applied for 30 minutes to generate spinal cord ischemia. Animals were evaluated functionally with the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan scoring system and inclined-plane test. The spinal cord tissue samples were harvested to analyze tissue concentrations of nitric oxide, nitric oxide synthase activity, xanthine oxidase activity, total antioxidant capacity, and total oxidant status and to perform histopathological examination. Results At the 72nd hour after ischemia, the borax group had significantly higher Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan and inclined-plane scores than those of ischemia/reperfusion group. Histopathological examination of spinal cord tissues in borax group showed that treatment with borax significantly reduced the degree of spinal cord edema, inflammation, and tissue injury disclosed by light microscopy. Xanthine oxidase activity and total oxidant status levels of the ischemia/reperfusion group were significantly higher than those of the sham and borax groups ( P P P  > .05). The nitric oxide levels and nitric oxide synthase activity of all groups were similar ( P  > .05). Conclusions Borax treatment seems to protect the spinal cord against injury in a rat ischemia/reperfusion model and improve neurological outcome.