Diacerein reduces sensorimotor deficits after spinal cord injury by clip-compression in female rats by protection of cellular damage in long time

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a cause of long-term disability, and one of the main problems is sensorimotor response impairment. Thus, become important treatments that reduce the progressive secondary damage that causes the loss of spared neurons. Due to the oxidative stress and inflammation interaction after damage, we tested if diacerein, a classic pharmacologic anti-inflammatory, could reduce the cell damage in the long term and recover sensorimotor responses after SCI in rats. Clip-compression SCI model in female Wistar rats caused severe locomotory loss performance showed through assessment by the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale and induced thermal hyperalgesia observed by Plantar Test Apparatus. When diacerein was administered twice a day for thirty-five days, the data presented a significant recovery of locomotion and an attenuation of thermal hyperalgesia. The increased adrenal glands’ weight and reduced soleus muscle mass were attenuated by diacerein. The immunoblotting showed that diacerein prevented progressive damage at the site of injury demonstrated by the recovery of nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) levels, reduction of protein nitration by 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) expression and inflammation decreased showed by a less expression in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immune content induced by injury. Therefore, the present data suggest that blockage of secondary damage by diacerein can inhibit the oxidative/inflammatory process by increasing Nrf2 and improving sensorimotor recovery in rats.