Figure 3

Effects of sevoflurane preconditioning on blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) integrity after spinal cord ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury. (A) Effects of spinal cord IR injury on BSCB permeability measured by EB extravasation. Almost no red fluorescence was observed in the spinal cord of sham group rats 36 h after injury. Much more red fluorescence, especially in the gray matter, was observed in IR group rats 36 h after injury, whereas EB red extravasation was significantly less in the sevoflurane preconditioning group. Further, downregulation of MMP-9 by intrathecal injection with MMP-9 siRNA had similar neuroprotective effects on the integrity of the BSCB to those of sevoflurane preconditioning. (B) EB content of the spinal cord (μg/g). (C) Percentage of EB extravasated area. (D) Quantification of the water content of the spinal cord (edema). All data are presented as mean±SEM (n = 8 per group). Scale bars are 200μm. **P < 0.05 vs. sham group; ^##P < 0.05 vs. IR group.